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THE  CATHEDRALS  AND 
CHURCHES  OF  THE  RHINE 


By  FRANCIS  MILTOUN 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  CATHEDRALS 
OF  NORTHERN  FRANCE,"  "  THE 
CATHEDRALS  OF  SOUTHERN 
FRANCE,"  "  dickens'  LONDON," 
ETC.,  WITH  NINETY  ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS,     PLANS,    AND      DIAGRAMS, 

By  BLANCHE  McMANUS 


BOSTON 

1,  €.  pa^z  anD  Compani? 

M  D  C  C  C  C  V  I 


Copyright,  igos 
By  L.  C.  Page  &  Company 

(incorporated) 
All  rights  reserved 


Published  September,  1905 


COLONIAL   PRESS 

ElectrotyPed  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  <5r*  Co. 

Boston,  U.S.A. 


JJl:' 

80/ 

KT4  rA 

%(. 

CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

PAGB 

Apologia   ...... 

V 

I. 

Introductory        .          .          .          .          . 

I 

II. 

The  Rhine  Cities  and  Towns 

13 

III. 

The  Church  in   Germany   . 

29 

IV. 

Some   Characteristics  of  Rhenish   Archi 

ecture 

40 

V. 

The  Accessories  of  German   Churches 

56 

VI. 

Constance  and   SchafFhausen 

68 

VII. 

Basel  and   Colmar 

83 

VIII. 

Freiburg     ..... 

93 

IX. 

Strasburg    ..... 

97 

X. 

Metz 

114 

XI. 

Speyer        ..... 

127 

XII. 

Carlsruhe,    Darmstadt,    and  Wiesbaden 

'34 

XIII. 

Heidelberg  and   Mannheim  . 

142 

XIV. 

Worms       ..... 

149 

XV. 

Frankfort    ..... 

155 

XVI. 

Mayence    ..... 

161 

XVII. 

Bacharach,   Bingen,   and  Rudesheim 

172 

XVIII. 

Limburg     ..... 

181 

XIX. 

Coblenz  and  Boppart 

.     187 

XX. 

Laach  and   Stolzenfels 

.     194 

XXI. 

Andernach  and  Sinzig 

■     199 

XXII. 

Treves       .          ,          .          .          . 

202 

-J 

ix 

4653G1 

LIBRARY 

Contents 


CHAPTER 

XXIII.  Bonn       .... 

XXIV.  Godesberg  and  Rolandseck 
XXV.  Cologne  and   Jts   Cathedral 

XXVI.  The   Churches  of  Cologne 

XXVII.  Aix-la-Chapelle 

XXVIII.  Liege       .... 

XXIX.  Diisseldorf,    Neuss,  and    Miinchen-Gladbach 

XXX.  Essen  and   Dortmund 

XXXI.  Emmerich,    Cleves,   and  Xanten 

XXXII.  Arnheim,    Utrecht,    and   Leyden 

Appendix         .... 

Index      ..... 


PAGB 

zo8 
226 
232 
264 
277 
295 

304 
3'8 
326 
331 

347 
363 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Cologne  Cathedral    . 
General  View  of  Leyden  , 
General   View  of  Diisseldorf 
Worms   Cathedral 
Chandelier,   Aix-la-Chapelle 
Font,    Limburg 
Constance   Cathedral 
Coat  of  Arms,   Constance 
Cathedral   Clock,    Basel 
Basel  and  Its  Cathedral     . 
Coat  of  Arms,   Basel 
Freiburg  Cathedral    . 
Coat  of  Arms,   Freiburg    . 
Ancient  Church   Foundation, 
Strasburg  Cathedral  . 
Coat  of  Arms,   Strasburg  . 
Metz       .... 
Speyer  Cathedral 
Greek  Chapel,   Wiesbaden 
Coat  of  Arms,    Darmstadt 
Heidelberg  and   Its  Castle 
Frankfort  Cathedral  . 
Coat  of  Arms,   Frankfort  . 


Strasburg  (diagram) 


PAGR 

Frontispiece 

facing 

8 

facing 

24 

facing 

60 

. 

64 

. 

66 

. 

71 

. 

82 

85 

facing 

86 

92 

facing 

94 

96 

. 

lOI 

facing 

102 

. 

113 

. 

115 

. 

129 

facing 

140 

141 

facing 

146 

facing 

156 

160 

List  of  Illustrations 


PAGE 

Cenotaph  of  Drusus,   Mayence 

. 

162 

Mayence  Cathedral  .... 

facing 

166 

Bacharach 

. 

•73 

Bishop   Hatto's  Mouse  Tower 

. 

175 

Coat  of  Arms,    Bingen 

. 

180 

Limburg  Cathedral    . 

facing 

182 

Coblenz  and   Its   Bridge     . 

facing 

190 

General  View  of  Boppart 

facing 

192 

Coat  of  Arms,   Coblenz    . 

193 

Abbey  of  Laach  (restored) 

195 

Stolzenfels  Castle 

197 

Coat  of  Arms,   Laach 

198 

General  View  of  Andernach 

facing 

200 

Sinzig  Church 

205 

Treves  Cathedral 

facing 

214 

Pulpit,   Treves  Cathedral  . 

216 

Coat  of  Arms,   Treves 

219 

General  View  of  Bonn     . 

facing 

220 

Apse,   Bonn  Cathedral 

221 

Convent  of  Nonnenwerth 

229 

General  View  of  Cologne 

facing 

232 

Cologne  Cathedral  in    1820 

254 

Stone-masons'    Marks,    Cologne 

Cathedral   . 

262 

Coat  of  Arms,    Cologne    . 

263 

Font,   St.    Martin's,   Cologne     . 

267 

Gross  St.    Martin,    Cologne 

269 

St.    Gereon's,   Cologne 

facing 

272 

Coat  of  Arms,   Cologne    . 

276 

Charlemagne    .... 

279 

Aix-la-Chapelle  Cathedral  in   I) 

Cth   Century 

283 

List  of  Ilhtstrations 


Aix-la-Chapelle  Cathedral 

Coat  of  Arms,   Aix-la-Chapelle 

General  View  of  Liege     . 

Coat  of  Arms,   Liege 

Neuss  Cathedral 

Coat  of  Arms,   Diisseldorf 

General   View  of  Essen     . 

Seven-branched  Candlestick,    Essen 

Coat  of  Arms,   Essen 

St.   Victor's,   Xanten 

General   View  of  Arnheim 

General  View  of  Utrecht 

Round    Church  in  the  IXth   Century,    Aix 

(diagram) 
St.    Genevieve,    Andernach  (diagram) 
Bonn  Cathedral   (diagram) 
St.    Castor,    Coblenz   (diagram)  . 
Ancient  Cathedral,    Cologne  (diagram) 
Present  Cathedral,   Cologne  (diagram) 
St.    Maria  in   Capitolia,    Cologne    (diagram) 
St.    Cunibert's,    Cologne   (diagram) 
St.    Martin's,    Cologne   (diagram) 
Church  of  the  Apostles,   Cologne  (diagram 
St.    Gereon's,    Cologne   (diagram) 
Crypt,   St.    Gereon's,    Cologne   (diagram) 
Constance  Cathedral   (diagram) 
Freiburg  Cathedral   (diagram)     . 
Abbey   of  Laach  (diagram) 
Mayence  Cathedral   (diagram)    , 
Gothard  Chapel,    Mayence  (diagram) 


facing 
facing 

facing 


facing 

facing 

la-Chapelle 


290 
294 
296 
303 
309 
317 
318 
321 

325 
329 

332 
340 

347 
348 

349 
350 

351 
351 

352 
352 
353 
353 
353 
353 
354 
355 
356 
358 
358 


List  of  Illustrations 


Abbey   Church,    Miinchen-Gladbach  (diagram) 

St.    Quirinus,    Neuss  (diagram)  . 

SchafFhausen   Cathedral   (diagram) 

Speyer  Cathedral  (diagram) 

Treves  Cathedral   (diagram) 

St.    Martin,   Worms  (diagram)  . 


359 
359 
360 
360 
361 
362 


APOLOGIA 

The  Rhine  provinces  stand  for  all  that  is 
best  and  most  characteristic  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical architecture  of  Germany,  as  contrasted 
with  that  very  distinct  species  known  as 
French  pointed  or  Gothic. 

For  this  reason  the  present  volume  of  the 
series,  which  follows  the  Cathedrals  of 
Northern  and  Southern  France,  deals  with 
a  class  of  ecclesiastical  architecture  entirely 
different  from  the  light,  flamboyant  style 
which  has  made  so  many  of  the  great  cathe- 
dral churches  of  France  preeminently  fa- 
mous. 

Save  Cologne,  there  is  no  great  cathedral, 
either  in  Germany  or  the  Low  Countries, 
which  in  any  way  rivals  the  masterpieces 
of  Paris,  Reims,  or  Amiens,  or  even  Lincoln 
or  York  in  England. 

Strasburg  and  Metz  are  in  a  way  remi- 
niscent of  much  that  is  French,  but  in  the 
main  the  cathedrals  and  churches  of  the 
Rhine  are  of  a  species  distinct  and  com- 
plete in  itself. 


Apologia 

Any  consideration  of  the  Rhine  cities  and 
towns,     and     the     ecclesiastical     monuments 

~^J  which  they  contain,  must  perforce  deal 
largely  with  the  picturesque  and  romantic 
elements  of  the  river  s  legendary  past. 

Not  all  of  these  legends  deal  with  mere 
romance,  as  the  world  well  knows.  The 
religious  element  has  ever  played  a  most 
important  part  in  the  greater  number  of  the 
Rhine  legends.  For  demonstration,  one  has 
only  to  recall  the  legends  of  "  The  Architect 
of  Cologne,"  of  "Bishop  Hatto  and  His 
Mouse  Tower  on  the  Rhine,"  and  of  many 
others  relating  to  the  devout  men  and  women 
who   in  times  past  lived  their  lives  here. 

^^         In    the   Low    Countries    also,  —  at    Liege, 

where   we   have   "  The  Legend   of   the   Lie- 

\  geois,"    and    at    Antwerp,    where    we    have 

'"  "  The  Legend  of  the  Blacksmith,"  —  and  in- 
deed throughout  the  whole  Rhine  watershed 
there  is  abundant  material  to  draw  from  with 
respect  to   the  religious  legend  alone. 

As  for  the  purely   romantic   legends,   like 
1     "  The   Trumpeter  of  Sackingen  "  and  "  The 

"^  Lorelei"  there  is  manifestly  neither  room 
nor  occasion  for  recounting  them  in  a  work 
such  as  this,  and  so,  frankly,  they  are  inten- 
tionally omitted. 


Apologia 

In  general,  this  book  aims  to  be  an  account 
of  the  great  churches  in  the  Rhine  valley, 
and  of  that  species  of  architectural  style 
which  is  known  as  Rhenish. 

There  is  a  fund  of  interesting  detail  to 
be  gathered  in  out-of-the-way  corners  in  re- 
gard to  these  grand  edifices  and  their  pious 
founders,  but  not  all  of  it  can  be  even  cata- 
logued here.  The  most  that  can  be  at- 
tempted is  to  point  out  certain  obvious  facts  ^ 
in  connection  with  these  ecclesiastical  monu- 
ments, not  neglecting  the  pictorial  represen- 
tation as  well. 

Tourists  have  well  worn   the  roads  along 

both   banks   of  the  Rhine,  from    Cologne  to 

^Mayence,    but    above    and    below    is    a    still 

larger  and  no  less  interesting  country,  which 

has  been  comparatively   neglected. 

Not  all  the  interest  of  the  Rhine  lies  in 
its  castled  crags  or  its  vine-clad  slopes,  and 
not  all  the  history  of  the  middle  ages  ema- 
nated from  feudal  strongholds.  The  Church 
here,  as  in  France,  played  its  part  and  played 
it  gloriously. 

In  this  discussion  of  the  Rhine  churches 
from  Constance  to  Leyden,  the  reader  will 
be  taken  on  what  might,  with  considerable 
license,  be  called  an  "  architectural  tour  "  of 


Apologia 

the  Rhine,  and  will  be  allowed  to  ramble 
along  the  banks  of  the  river,  looking  in  and 
out  of  the  various  religious  edifices  with 
which  its  cities  and  towns  are  crowded. 

The  valley  of  the  Rhine  is  no  undiscov- 
ered land,  but  it  served  the  purpose  of  the 
author  and  the  artist  well,  for  it  presents 
much  variety  of  architectural  form,  and  an 
abounding  and  appealing  interest  by  reason 
of  the  shadows  of  the  past  still  lingering  over 
these  monuments  in  stone. 


The   Cathedrals  and 
Churchej  of  the  Rhine 


INTRODUCTORY 

There  is  no  topographical  division  of 
Europe  which  more  readily  defines  itself 
and  its  limits  than  the  Rhine  valley  from 
Schafifhausen  to  where  the  river  empties  into 
the  North  Sea. 

The  region  has  given  birth  to  history  and 
legend  of  a  most  fascinating  character,  and 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people  who 
dwell  along  its  banks  are  varied  and  pictur- 
esque. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  was  but  to 
be  expected  that  architectural  development 
should  have  expressed  itself  in  a  decided  and 
unmistakable  fashion. 

One  usually  makes  the  Rhine  tour  as  an 
interlude  while  on   the  way  to   Switzerland 

I 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

or  the  Italian  lakes,  with  little  thought  of 
its  geographical  and  historical  importance 
in  connection  with  the  development  of  mod- 
ern Europe. 

It  was  the  onward  march  of  civilization, 
furthered  by  the  Romans,  through  this  great- 
est of  natural  highways  to  the  north,  that 
gave  the  first  political  and  historical  signifi- 
ca/nce  to  the  country  of  the  Rhine  watershed. 
And  from  that  day  to  this  the  Rhenish  prov- 
inces and  the  Low  Countries  bordering  upon 
the  sea  have  occupied  a  prominent  place  in 
history. 

There  is  a  distinct  and  notable  architec- 
ture, confined  almost,  one  may  say,  to  the 
borders  of  the  Rhine,  which  the  expert 
knows  as  Rhenish,  if  it  can  be  defined  at 
all;  and  which  is  distinct  from  that  variety 
of  pre-Gothic  architecture  known  as  Roman- 
esque. 

It  has  been  developed  mainly  in  the  build- 
ing of  ecclesiastical  edifices,  and  the  churches 
and  cathedrals  of  the  Rhine  valley,  through 
Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  are  a  species 
which,  if  they  have  not  the  abounding  pop- 
ular interest  of  the  great  Gothic  churches  of 
France,  are  quite  as  lordly  and  imposing  as 
any  of  their  class  elsewhere.     The  great  ca- 

2 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

thedral  at  Cologne  stands  out  among  its 
Gothic  compeers  as  the  beau-ideal  of  our 
imagination,  while  the  cathedral  at  Tournai, 
in  Belgium  —  which,  while  not  exactly  of 
the  Rhine,  is  contiguous  to  it  —  is  the  pro- 
totype of  more  than  one  of  the  lesser  and 
primitive  Gothic  cathedrals  of  France,  and 
has  even  lent  its  quadruple  elevation  to 
Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  and  was  possibly  the 
precursor  of  the  cathedral  at  Limburg-on- 
Lahn. 

From  this  it  will  be  inferred  that  the  build- 
ers of  the  churches  of  the  Rhine  country  were 
no  mere  tyros  or  experimenters,  but  rather 
that  they  were  possessed  of  the  best  talents 
of  the  time. 

There  is  much  of  interest  awaiting  the 
lover  of  churches  who  makes  even  the  con- 
ventional Rhine  tour,  though  mostly  the 
tourist  in  these  parts  has  heretofore  reserved 
his  sentiments  and  emotions  for  the  admira- 
tion of  its  theatrical-looking  crags  and  cas- 
tles, the  memory  of  its  legends  of  the  Lore- 
lei, etc.,  a  nodding  acquaintance  with  the 
castle  of  Heidelberg,  and  a  proper  or  im- 
proper appreciation  of  the  waterside  beer- 
gardens  of  Cologne.  For  the  most  part  the 
real  romance  and  history  of  the  Rhine,  as  it 

3 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

flows  from  its  source  in  the  Grisons  to  the 
North  Sea,  has  been  neglected. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  persons  who 
are  content  to  admire  the  popular  attrac- 
tions of  convention;  sometimes  they  evoke 
an  interest  somewhat  out  of  the  ordinary, 
but  up  to  now  apparently  no  one  has  gone 
to  the  Rhine  with  the  sole  object  of  visiting 
its  magnificent  gallery  of  ecclesiastical  treas- 
ures. 

No  one  glows  with  enthusiasm  at  the  men- 
tion of  these  Rhenish  churches  as  they  do 
for  the  Gothic  marvels  of  France.  It  is, 
of  course,  impossible,  in  spite  of  Cologne, 
Speyer,  and  Strasburg,  that  they  should  sup- 
plant Reims,  Amiens,  Chartres,  or  Rouen  in 
the  popular  fancy,  to  say  nothing  of  real 
excellence;  for  these  four  French  examples 
represent  nearly  all  that  is  best  in  mediaeval 
church  architecture. 

The  Reformation  in  Germany,  with  its 
attendant  unrest,  accounts  for  a  certain  lati- 
tude and  variety  in  the  types  of  church  fit- 
ments, as  well  as  —  in  many  cases  —  an  un- 
conventional arrangement  or  disposition  of 
the  fabric  itself. 

One  thing  is  most  apparent  with  regard 
to   German   churches    in   general,  —  the    fit- 

4 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tings  and  paraphernalia,  as  distinct  from  the 
constructive  or  decorative  elements  of  the 
fabric,  are  far  more  ornate  and  numerous 
than  in  churches  of  a  similar  rank  elsewhere. 
It  is  true  that  the  Revolution  played  its  part 
of  destruction  along  the  Rhine,  but  in  spite 
of  this  there  is  an  abundance  of  sculpture 
and   other  ornament  still   left. 

Thus  one  almost  always  finds  elaborate 
choir-stalls,  screens,  pulpits,  and  altar-pieces, 
of  a  quantity  and  excellence  that  contrast 
strongly  with  the  severe  outlines  of  the  fabric 
which  shelters  them. 

In  connection  with  the  architectural  forms 
of  the  ecclesiastical  buildings  of  a  country 
must  invariably  be  considered  such  secular 
and  civic  establishments  as  represent  the 
state  in  its  relation  to  the  Church,  and  along 
the  Rhine,  as  elsewhere  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  the  past  forms  an  inseparable  link 
which  still  binds  the  two.  Here,  not  only 
the  public  architecture,  but  the  private,  do- 
mestic architecture  takes  on  forms  which, 
varied  though  they  are,  belong  to  no  other 
regions.  They  are,  moreover,  only  to  be 
judged  at  their  true  value  when  considered 
as  a  thing  of  yesterday,  rather  than  of  to- 
day. 

5 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

That  portion  of  the  Rhine  which  is  best 
worth  knowing,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the 
conventional  tourist,  is  that  which  lies  between 
Cologne  and  Mayence.  This  is  the  region 
\  of  the  travel-agencies,  and  of  the  droves  of 
I  sightseers  who  annually  sweep  down  upon 
the  "  legendary  Rhine,"  as  they  have  learned 
to  call  it,  on  foot,  on  bicycle,  and  by  train, 
steamboat,    and    automobile. 

Above  and  below  these  cities  is  a  great 
world  of  architectural  wealth  which  has  not 
the  benefit  of  even  a  nodding  acquaintance 
with  most  new-century  travellers. 

To  them  Strasburg  is  mostly  a  myth, 
though  even  the  vague  memory  of  the  part 
it  played  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  ought 
to  stamp  it  as  something  more  than  that,  to 
say  nothing  of  its  awkwardly  spired,  but  very 
beautiful  and  most  ancient  cathedral. 

Still  farther  down  the  river  one  comes  to 
_^Dusseldorf,  that  most  modern  of  German 
cities.  At  Neuss,  a  short  distance  from  Diis- 
seldorf,  is  the  church  of  St.  Quirinus,  which 
will  live  in  the  note-books  of  architectural 
students  as  one  of  the  great  buildings  of  the 
world. 

It  is  a  singularly  ample  river-bottom  that 
is    drained    by   the    Rhine    from    its    Alpine 

6 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

source  to  the  sea,  and  one  which  ofifers  prac- 
tically an  inexhaustible  variety  of  charming 
environment;  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  archi- 
tecture plays  no  small  part  in  reflecting  the 
manners,  customs,  and  temperaments  of  the 
people. 

Of  the  value  of  the  artistic  pretensions  of 
the  people  of  Holland  we  have  mostly  ob- 
tained our  opinions  from  the  pictures  of 
Teniers,  or  from  the  illustrated  post-cards, 
which  show  clean-looking  maidens  bedecked 
in  garments  that  look  as  though  they  had  just 
been  laundered.  To  these  might  be  added 
advertisements  of  chocolate  and  other  articles 
which  show  to  some  extent  the  quaint  wind- 
mills and  dwelling-houses  of  the  towns. 
Apart  from  these  there  is  little  from  which 
to  judge  of  the  wealth  of  architectural  treas- 
ures of  this  most  fascinating  of  countries, 
whose  churches,  if  they  are  bare  and  gaunt 
in  many  ways,  are  at  least  as  sympathetic 
in  their  appealing  interest  as  many  situated 
in  a  less  austere  climate.  To  realize  this 
one  has  but  to  recall  the  ship-model-hung 
Kerk  at  Haarlem;  the  quaint  little  minaret 
which  rises  above  the  roof  tops  of  Leyden; 
or,  the  grandest  of  all,  the  Groote  Kerk  of 
Rotterdam,  which,  on  a  cloud-riven  autumn 

7 


i 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

day,  composes  itself  into  varying  moods  and 
symphonies  which  would  have  made  Whis- 
tler himself  eager  and  envious  of  its  beauty 
and  grandeur. 

In  so  far  as  this  book  deals  only  with  the 
churches  and  cathedrals  of  the  Rhine,  and 
follows  the  course  of  the  Neder  Rijn  and 
the  Oud  Rijn  through  Holland,  there  are 
but  three  Dutch  cities  which  bring  them- 
selves naturally  into  line:  Arnheim,  Utrecht, 
and  Leyden. 

So  far  as  Americans  are  concerned,  there 
is  a  warm  spot  in  their  hearts  for  Old  Hol- 
land, when  they  remember  the  brave  little 
band  of  Pilgrims  who  gathered  at  Leyden 
and  set  sail  from  Delfthaven  for  their  new 
home  across  the  seas.  This  was  but  three 
hundred  years  ago,  which,  so  far  as  the  an- 
tiquity of  European  civilization  goes,  counts 
for  but  little.  It  is  something,  however,  to 
realize  that  the  mediaeval  architectural  mon- 
uments of  these  places  are  the  very  ones 
which  the  Pilgrims  themselves  knew.  It  is 
true,  however,  that  their  outlook  upon  life 
was  too  austere  to  have  allowed  them  to 
absorb  any  great  amount  of  the  artistic  ex- 
pression of  the  Dutch,  but  they  must  un- 
questionably have  been   impressed  with   the 

8 


i_E.YJ3e.N 


G 


ENERAL   VIEW   of  LEYDEN 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

general    appropriateness   of   the   architecture 
around  them. 

Below  Diisseldorf  the  topography  and  ar- 
chitectural features  alike  change  rapidly, 
and  the  true  Rhenish  architecture  of  heavy 
arches,  with  an  occasional  sprinkling  of 
fairy-like  Gothic,  really  begins.  Neuss,  Es- 
sen, and  all  the  Westphalian  group  of  sol- 
idly built  miinsters  speak  volumes  for  Ger- 
man mediaeval  church  architecture,  while 
up  the  Rhine,  past  Diisseldorf,  Cologne, 
Bonn,  Konigswater,  Remagen,  Sinzig,  An-  \j 
dernach,  Coblenz,  and  all  the  way  to  Ma- 
yence,  and  on  past  Schafifhausen'io  Basel 
are  at  least  three  score  of  interesting  old 
churches  as  far  different  from  those  else- 
where as  could  possibly  be  imagined,  and 
yet  all  so  like,  one  to  another,  that  they  are 
of  a  species  by  themselves;  all  except  the 
cathedral  at  Cologne,  which  follows  the  best 
practice  of  the  French,  except  that  its  nave 
is  absurdly  short  for  its  great  breadth,  and 
that  its  ponderous  towers  stand  quite  alone 
in  their  class. 

In  general,  then,  the  cathedrals  and 
churches  of  the  Rhine  form  a  wonderful 
collection  of  masterpieces  of  architectural 
art  with  which  most  well-informed   folk  in 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  world  to-day  should  have  a  desire  for 
acquaintanceship. 

These  often  austere  edifices,  when  seen 
near  by,  may  not  appeal  to  the  popular  fancy 
as  do  those  of  France  and  England,  and  they 
may  not  even  have  the  power  to  so  appeal ; 
but,  such  as  they  are,  they  are  quite  as  worthy 
of  serious  consideration  and  ardent  admira- 
tion as  any  structures  of  their  kind  in  exist- 
ence, and  they  have,  in  addition,  an  environ- 
ment which  should  make  a  journey  among 
them,  along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  from  its 
source  to  the  sea,  one  of  the  most  enjoyable 
experiences  of  life. 

The  Rhine  loses  none  of  its  charms  by 
intimate  acquaintance;  its  history  and  leg- 
ends stand  out  with  even  more  prominence; 
and  the  quaint  architectural  forms  of  its 
cities  are  at  least  characteristically  convinc- 
ing. 

Remains  of  every  period  may  be  found 
by  the  antiquary,  from  the  time  when  the 
Roman  eagle  was  triumphant  throughout  the 
dominion  of  the  Franks  to  feudal  and  war- 
like times  nearer  our  own  day. 

In  addition,  there  are  ever  to  be  found 
evidences  of  the  frugality  and  thrift  of  the 


lO 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Germans  which  preserve  the  best  traditions 
of  other  days. 

The  love  of  the  Rhineland  in  the  breast 
of  the  Teuton  is  an  indescribable  sentiment; 
a  confusion  of  the  higher  and  lower  emo- 
tions. It  is  characteristic  of  the  national 
genius.  We  have  been  told,  and  rightly: 
"  You  cannot  paint  the  Rhine,  you  cannot 
even  describe  it,  for  picture  or  poem  would 
leave  out  half  of  the  whole  delicious  con- 
fusion. The  Rhine,  however,  can  be  set  to 
music,"  and  that  apparently  is  just  what  has 
been  done. 

Everywhere  one  hears  the  music  of  the 
fatherland.  Whether  it  is  the  songs  and 
madrigals  of  the  Church,  or  of  the  German 
bands  in  the  Volksgarten,  it  is  always  the 
same,  a  light,  irrepressible  emotion  which 
does  much  toward  elucidating  the  complex 
German  character. 

Nowhere  more  than  at  Cologne  is  this 
contrast  apparent.  It  is  the  most  delightful 
of  all  Rhine  cities.  Usually  tourists  go  there, 
or  are  sent  there  —  which  is  about  what  it 
amounts  to  in  most  cases  —  in  order  to  begin 
their  "  Rhine  tour." 

Before  they  start  up-stream,  they  stroll 
about  the  city,  pop  in  and  out  of  its  glorious 

II 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

cathedral,  and  perhaps  one  or  another  of  its 
magnificent  churches,  —  if  they  happen  to  be 
on  their  line  of  march  to  or  from  some 
widely  separated  points,  —  make  the  usual 
purchase  of  real  eau  de  Cologne,  —  though 
doubtless  they  are  deceived  into  buying  a 
poor  imitation,  —  and  wind  up  in  a  river- 
side concert-garden,  with  much  music  and 
beer-drinking  in   the  open. 

This  is  all  proper  enough,  but  this  book 
does  not  aim  at  recounting  a  round  of  these 
delights.  It  deals,  if  not  with  the  Teutonic 
emotions  themselves,  at  least  with  the  ex- 
pression of  them  in  the  magnificent  and  pic- 
turesquely disposed  churches  of  both  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  from  its  source  to  the  sea. 


12 


II 

THE  RHINE  CITIES  AND  TOWNS 

C^SAR,   Charlemagne,   and    Napoleon   all 
played  their  great  parts  in  the  history  of  the     ' 
Rhine,   and,  in  later  days,  historians,   poets,    ., 
and  painters  of  all  shades  of  ability  and  opin-    ^ 
ion   have   done   their   part  to   perpetuate   its 
glories. 

The  Rhine  valley  formed  a  part  of  three 
divisions  of  the  ancient  Gaul  conquered  by 
the  Romans:  La  Belgica,  toward  the  coast 
of  the  North  Sea;  Germanica  I.,  with  Mo- 
guntiacum  (Mayence)  as  its  capital;  and 
Germanica  II.,  with  Colonia  Agrippina 
(Cologne)  as  its  chief  town.  The  Rhine  was 
the  great  barrier  between  the  Romans  and 
the  German  tribes,  and,  in  the  time  of  Tibe-  \^ 
rius,  eight  legions  guarded  the  frontier.  The 
political  and  economic  influences  which 
overflowed  from  the  Rhine  valley  have  been 
most  momentous. 

The  Rhine  formed  one  of  the  great  Roman 

13 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

highways  to  the  north,  and  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  first  description  of  it  is 
Caesar's,  though  he  himself  had  little  famil- 
iarity with  it.  He  wrote  of  the  rapidity  of  its 
flow,  and  built,  or  caused  to  be  built,  a  wooden 
bridge  over  it,  between  Coblenz  and  Ander- 
nach. 

In  the  history  of  the  Rhine  we  have  a 
history  of  Europe.  A  boundary  of  the  em- 
pire of  Caesar,  it  afterward  gave  passage  to 
the  barbarian  hordes  who  overthrew  impe- 
rial Rome.  Charlemagne  made  it  the  out- 
post of  his  power,  and  later  the  Church 
gained  strength  in  the  cities  on  its  banks, 
while  monasteries  and  feudal  strongholds 
rose  up  quickly  one  after  another.  Orders 
of  chivalry  were  established  at  Mayence; 
and  knights  of  the  Teutonic  order,  of 
Rhodes,  and  of  the  Temple,  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  The  minnesinger  and  the  trouba- 
dour praised  its  wines,  told  of  its  contests, 
and  celebrated  its  victories.  The  hills,  the 
caves,  the  forests,  the  stream,  and  the  solid 
rocks  themselves  were  tenanted  by  supersti- 
tion, by  oreads,  mermaids,  gnomes.  Black 
Huntsmen,  and  demons  in  all  imaginable 
fantastic  shapes. 

Meantime  the  towns  were  growing  under 
H 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  influence  of  trade,  —  the  grimy  power 
that  destroyed  the  feudal  system.  The  Re- 
formed religion  found  an  advocate  at  Con- 
stance in  John  Huss  even  before  Luther  ful-' 
minated  against  Rome;  printing  was  accom- 
plished by  Gutenberg  at  Mayence;  and  now 
steam  and  electricity  have  awakened  a  new 
era. 

Caesar,  Attila,  Clovis,  Charlemagne,  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa,  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  the 
Palatine  Frederick  the  First,  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  and  Napoleon  have  been  victorious 
upon  its  banks.  What  more  could  fate  do 
to  give  the  stream  an  almost  immortality  of 
fame? 

Little  by  little  there  were  established  on 
the  banks  of  the  river  populous  posts  and 
centres  of  commerce.  The  military  camps 
of  Drusus  had  grown  into  settled  communi- 
ties, until  to-day  are  found  along  the  Rhine 
the  great  cities  of  Basel,  Strasburg,  Speyer, 
Worms,  Mayence,  Coblenz,  Cologne,  and 
Diisseldorfj  and  between  them  are  dotted 
a  series  of  cities  and  towns  less  important 
only  in  size,  certainly  not  in  the  magnitude 
of  their  interest  for  the  traveller  or  student, 
nor  in  their  storied  past. 

Of  the  more  romantic,  though  perhaps  not 
15 


\1 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

more  picturesque,  elements  of  vine-clad 
slopes  —  where  is  produced  the  celebrated 
Rheinwein  —  the  rapid  flow  of  Rhine  water, 
and  the  fabled  dwelling-places  of  sprites  and 
Rhinemaidens,  there  is  quite  enough  for 
many  an  entertaining  volume  not  yet  written. 

After  traversing  several  of  the  cantons, 
the  Rhine  leaves  Switzerland  at  Basel,  on  its 
course,  through  Germany  and  Holland,  to 
the  sea.  Its  chief  tributaries  are  the  Neckar, 
Murg,  Kinzig,  Aar,  Main,  Nahe,  Lahn, 
Moselle,  Erft,  Ruhr,  and  Lippe.  Its  waters 
furnish  capital  salmon,  which,  curiously 
enough,  when  taken  on  their  passage  up  the 
stream,  are  called  lachse;  but,  when  caught 
in  autumn  on  their  way  down  to  the  sea,  are 
known  as  salmon.  It  affords  also  sturgeon, 
pike,  carp,  and  lampreys.  Its  enormous  rafts 
of  timber  have  often  been  described,  and 
should  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  They 
often  carried  half  a  village  of  people,  and 
were  of  great  value.  To-day  these  great  rafts, 
however,  are  seldom  seen. 

In  summer,  when  the  tourist  visits  the 
river,  its  course  is  comparatively  calm  and 
orderly;  it  is  only  in  spring,  when  the  snows 
melt  rapidly  in  Switzerland,  that  "  Father 
Rhine"   is   to   be   beheld   in    all   his   might; 

i6 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

for  then  the  waters  often  rise  a  dozen  feet 
above  their  common  level.  Its  depth  from 
Basel  to  Strasburg  averages  ten  to  twelve 
feet;  at  Mayence,  twenty-four  feet;  at  Diis- 
seldorf,  fifty  feet. 

To  Basel,  through  the  Lake  of  Constance 
from  Grisons,  the  Rhine  forms  a  boundary 
between  Switzerland  and  the  German  States. 
From  Basel  to  Mayence  it  winds  its  way 
through  the  ancient  bed  of  the  glaciers;  and 
from  Mayence  to  Bingen  it  flows  through  f/ 
rocky  walls  to  Bonn,  where  it  enters  the  great 
alluvial  plain  through  which  it  makes  its 
way  to  the  ocean. 

The  valley  of  the  Rhine  has  been  called 
the  artery  which  gives  life  to  all  Prussia. 
The  reason  is  obvious  to  any  who  have  the 
slightest  acquaintance  with  the  region.  The 
commerce  of  the  Rhine  is  ceaseless;  day  and 
night,  up  and  down  stream,  the  procession  of 
steamboats,  canal-boats,  floats,  and  barges  is 
almost  constant. 

From  the  dawn  of  history  both  banks  of 
the  Lower  Rhine  had  belonged  to  Germany, 
and  they  are  still  inhabited  by  Germans. 
Ten  centuries  or  more  have  elapsed  since  the 
boundaries  of  the  eastern  and  western  king- 
dom of  the   Franks  were   fixed   at  Verdun, 

17 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

and,  though  the  French  frontier  had  fre- 
quently advanced  toward  Germany,  and  at 
certain  points  had  actually  reached  the 
Rhine,  no  claim  was  advanced  to  that  por- 
tion which  was  yet  German  until  the  cry  of 
'*  To  the  Rhine "  resounded  through  the 
French  provinces  in   1870-71. 

Of  course  the  obvious  argument  of  the 
French  was,  and  is,  an  apparently  justifiable 
pretension  to  extend  France  to  its  natural 
frontier,  but  this  is  ill-founded  on  precedent, 
and  monstrous  as  well.  Against  it  we  have 
in  history  that  a  river-bed  is  not  a  natural 
delimitation  of   territorial   domination. 

The  Cisalpine  Gauls  extended  their  pow- 
ers across  the  river  Po,  and  the  United  States 
of  America  first  claimed  Oregon  by  virtue 
of  the  interpretation  that  a  boundary  at  a 
river  should  give  control  of  both  banks, 
though  how  far  beyond  the  other  bank  they 
might  claim  is  unestablished. 

Until  the  Lake  of  Constance  is  reached, 
with  its  fine  city  of  the  same  name  at  its 
westerly  end,  there  are  no  cities,  towns,  or 
villages  in  which  one  would  expect  to  find 
ecclesiastical  monuments  of  the  first  rank; 
indeed,  one  may  say  that  there  are  none. 

But  the  whole  Rhine  watershed,  that  great 
18 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhme 

thoroughfare  through  which  Christianizing 
and  civilizing  influences  made  their  way 
northward  from  Italy,  is  replete  with  me- 
morials of  one  sort  or  another  of  those  signif- 
icant events  of  history  which  were  made 
doubly  impressive  and  far-reaching  by  rea- 
son of  their  religious   aspect. 

The  three  tiny  sources  of  the  Rhine  are 
born  in  the  canton  of  Grisons,  and  are  known 
as  the  Vorder-Rhein,  the  Mittel-Rhein,  and 
the   Hinter-Rhein. 

At  Disentis  was  one  of  the  most  ancient 
Benedictine  monasteries  of  the  German  Alps. 
It  was  founded  in  614,  and  stood  high  upon 
the  hillside  of  Mount  Vakaraka,  at  the  con- 
fluence of  two  of  the  branches  of  the  Rhine. 
Its  abbots  had  great  political  influence  and 
were  princes  of  the  Empire.  They  were  the 
founders  of  the  "  Gray  Brotherhood,"  and 
were  the  first  magistrates  of  the   region. 

The  abbey  of  Disentis  was,  in  1799,  cap- 
tured and  set  on  fire  by  the  French,  but  later 
on  it  was  reestablished,  only  to  suffer  again 
from  fire  in  1846,  though  it  was  again  rebuilt 
in  more  modest  style. 

St.  Trons  was  the  former  seat  of  the 
Parliament  of  Grisons.     Its  chief  ecclesiasti- 


19 


^^J" 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

cal   monument   is   a   memorial   chapel   dedi- 
cated to  St.  Anne. 

On  its  porch  one  may  read  the  following 
inscription: 

"  In  libertatem  vocat'i  estis 

Ubi  spiritus  domini^  ibi  libertas 
In  te  speraverunt  patres 
Speraverunt  et  liber  as  ti  oes." 

Coire  was  the  ancient  Curia  Rhcetiorum. 
It  is  the  capital  of  the  Canton  of  Orisons, 
and  was  the  seat  of  a  bishop  as  early  as  562. 
The  Emperor  Constantine  made  the  town 
his  winter  quarters  in  the  fourth  century. 

The  church  of  St.  Martin,  to-day  belong- 
ing to  the  Reformed  Church,  is  an  uncon- 
vincing and  in  no  way  remarkable  monu- 
ment, but  in  what  is  known  as  the  Episcopal 
Court,  behind  great  walls,  tower-flanked  and 
with  heavily  barred  gateways,  one  comes 
upon  evidences  of  the  ecclesiastical  impor- 
tance of  the  town  in  other  days. 

The  walls  of  the  ancient  "  ecclesiastical 
city "  enclose  a  plat  nearly  triangular  in 
form.  On  one  side  are  the  canons'  residences 
and   other   domestic   establishments,    and    on 


20 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  other  the  cathedral  and  the  bishop's 
palace. 

In  the  episcopal  palace  are  a  number  of 
fine  portraits,  which  are  more  a  record  of 
manners  and  customs  in  dress  than  they  are 
of  churchly  history. 

The  small  cathedral  and  all  the  other  edi- 
fices date  from  an  eighth-century  foundation, 
and  are  in  the  manifest  Romanesque  style  of 
a  very  early  period. 

Within  the  cathedral  are  a  number  of 
funeral  monuments  of  not  much  artistic 
worth  and  a  series  of  paintings  by  Holbein 
and  Diirer.  As  an  art  centre  Coire  would 
appear  to  rank  higher  than  it  does  as  a  city 
of  architectural  treasures,  for  it  was  also  the 
birthplace  of  Angelica  Kaufifmann,  who  was 
born  here  in   1741. 

Ragatz  is  more  famous  as  a  "  watering- 
place  "  —  for  the  baths  of  Pfeffers  are  truly 
celebrated  —  than  as  a  treasure-house  of  re- 
ligious art,  though  in  former  days  the  abbey 
of  Pfefifers  was  of  great  renown.  Its  founda- 
tion dates  from  720,  but  the  building  as  it 
exists  to-dav  was  only  erected  in  1665.  The 
church,  in  part  of  marble,  contains  some 
good  pictures.  The  abbey  was  formerly  very 
wealthy,    and    its    abbot    bore    the    title    of 

21 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

prince.  The  convent  is  to-day  occupied  by 
the  Benedictines,  to  whom  also  the  baths 
belong. 

From  this  point  on,  as  one  draws  near  the 
Lake  of  Constance,  the  Alpine  character  of 
the  topography  somewhat  changes. 

The  Lake  of  Constance  was  known  to  the 
Romans  as  Brigantinus  Lacus  or  the  Lacus 
Rheni.  It  has  not  so  imposing  a  setting  as 
many  of  the  Swiss  or  Italian  lakes,  but  its 
eighteen  hundred  square  kilometres  give  the 
city  of  Constance  itself  an  environment  that 
most  inland  towns  of  Europe  lack.  The 
Lake  of  Constance,  like  all  of  the  Alpine 
lakes,  is  subject  at  time§  to  violent  tempests. 
It  is  very  plentifully  supplied  with  fish,  and 
I  is  famous  for  its  pike,  trout,  and,  above  all, 
,  its  fresh  herring. 

From  Basel  the  Rhine  flows  westward 
under  the  last  heights  of  the  Jura,  and  turns 
then  to  the  north  beneath  the  shelter  of  the 
Vosges,  and,  as  it  flows  by  Strasburg,  first 
begins  to  take  on  that  majesty  which  one 
usually  associates  with  a  great  river. 

At  the  confluence  of  the  Main,  after  pass- 
ing Speyer,  Worms,  and  Mannheim,  the 
Rhine     first     acquires     that     commercialism 


22 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

which  has  made  it  so  important  to  the  latter- 
day  development  of  Prussia. 

At  the  juncture  of  the  Main  and  Rhine 
is  Mayence,  one  of  the  strongest  military 
positions  in  Europe  to-day.  Here  the  Rhine 
hurls  itself  against  the  slopes  of  the  Taunus 
and  turns  abruptly  again  to  the  west,  aggran- 
dizing itself  at  the  same  time,  to  a  width  of 
from  five  hundred  to  seven  hundred  metres. 

Shortly  after  it  has  passed  the  last  foot- 
hills of  the  Taunus,  it  enters  that  narrow 
gorge  which,  for  a  matter  of  150  kilometres, 
has  catalogued  its  name  and  fame  so  bril- 
liantly among  the  stock  sights  of  the  globe- 
trotter. 

No  consideration  of  the  economic  part 
played  by  the  Rhine  should  overlook  the 
two  international  canals  which  connect  that 
river  with  France  through  the  Rhone  and 
the  Marne. 

The  first  enters  the  Rhine  at  Strasburg, 
a  small  feeder  running  to  Basel,  and  the 
latter,  starting  at  Vitry-le-Frangois,  joins  the 
Marne  with  the  Rhine  at  the  same  place, 
Strasburg. 

On  the  frontier  of  the  former  departement 
Oi  the  Haut-Rhin,  one  may  view  an  immense 
horizon  from  the  south  to  the  north.     From 

^2> 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

one  particular  spot,  where  the  heights  of 
the  Vosges  begin  to  level,  it  is  said  that  one 
may  see  the  towers  of  Strasburg,  of  Speyer, 
of  Worms,  and  of  Heidelberg.  If  so,  it  is 
a  wonderful  panorama,  and  it  must  have 
been  on  a  similar  site  that  the  Chateau  of 
Trifels  (three  rocks)  was  situated,  in  which 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  was  imprisoned  when 
delivered  up  to  Henry  VI.  by  Leopold  of 
Austria. 

To  distract  himself  he  sang  the  songs 
taught  him  by  his  troubadour,  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  harp,  says  both  history  and 
legend,  until  one  day  the  faithful  Blondel, 
who  was  pursuing  his  way  up  and  down  the 
length  of  Europe  in  search  of  his  royal  mas- 
ter, appeared  before  his  window. 

Some  faithful  knights,  entirely  devoted  to 
their  prince,  had  followed  in  the  wake  of 
the  troubadour,  and  were  able  to  rescue 
Richard  by  the  aid  of  a  young  girl,  Mathilde 
by  name,  who  had  recognized  the  songs  sung 
by  Blondel  as  being  the  same  as  those  of  the 
royal  prisoner  in  the  tower  of  the  chateau. 
When  the  troubadour  was  led  to  the  door 
of  the  prince's  cell,  he  heard  a  voice  call 
to  him:  '' Est-ce  toi,  mon  cher  Blondel? " 
"  Qui,  c'est  moi,  mon  seigneur,"  replied  the 

24 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

singer.     ''  Comptez  sur  mon  zele  et  sur  celui 

de  quelques  amis  fideles  —  7ious  vous  delive- 

„    ■'■' 
rons. 

The  next  day  the  escape  was  made  through 
an  overpowering  of  the  guard;  and  Richard, 
in  the  midst  of  his  faithful  chevaliers,  ulti- 
mately arrived  in  England. 

Blondel  had  meanwhile  led  the  willing 
Mathilde  to  the  altar,  and  received  a  rich 
recompense  from  the  king. 

As  the  Rhine  enters  the  plain  at  Cologne, 
it  comes  into  its  fourth  and  last  phase. 

Flowing  past  Diisseldorf  and  Wesel,  it 
quits  German  soil  just  beyond  Emmerich, 
and  enters  the  Low  Countries  in  two 
branches.  The  Waal  continues  its  course 
toward  the  west  by  Nymegen,  and  through 
its  vast  estuary,  by  Dordrecht,  to  the  sea. 

The  Rhine  proper  takes  a  more  northerly 
course,  and,  as  the  Neder  Rijn,  passes  Arn- 
heim  and  Utrecht,  and  thence,  taking  the 
name  of  Oud  Rijn,  fills  the  canals  of  Leyden 
and  goes  onward  to  the  German  Ocean. 

Twelve  kilometres  from  Leyden  is  Kat- 
wyck  aan  Zee,  where,  between  colossal  dikes, 
the  Rhine  at  last  finds  its  way  to  the  open 
sea.  More  humble  yet  at  its  tomb  than  in 
the  cradle  of  its  birth,  it  enters  the  tempes- 

25 


Cathedrals  and  C J  lurches  of  the  Rhine 

tuous  waters  of  the  German  Ocean  through 
an  uncompromising  and  unbeautiful  sluice 
built  by  the  government  of  Louis  Bonaparte. 

For  more  than  eleven  hundred  kilometres 
it  flows  between  banks  redolent  of  history 
and  legend  to  so  great  an  extent  that  it  is 
but  natural  that  the  art  and  architecture  of 
its  environment  should  have  been  some 
unique  type  which,  lending  its  influence  to 
the  border  countries,  left  its  impress  through- 
out an  area  which  can  hardly  be  restricted 
by  the   river's  banks   themselves. 

We  know  how,  in  Germany,  it  gave  birth 
to  a  variety  of  ecclesiastical  architecture 
which  is  recognized  by  the  world  as  a  dis- 
tinct Rhenish  type.  In  Holland  the  archi- 
tectural forms  partook  of  a  much  more 
simple  or  primitive  character;  but  they,  too, 
are  distinctly  Rhenish;  at  least,  they  have 
not  the  refulgence  of  the  full-blown  Gothic 
of  France. 

Taine,  in  his  "  Art  in  the  Netherlands," 
goes  into  the  character  of  the  land,  and  the 
struggle  demanded  of  the  people  to  reclaim 
it  from  the  sea,  and  the  energy,  the  vigilance 
required  to  secure  it  from  its  onslaughts  so 
that  they,  for  themselves  and  their  families, 
might  possess   a  safe   and  quiet  hearthstone. 

26 


Cathedrals  and  CJmrches  of  the  Rhine 

He  draws  a  picture  of  the  homes  thus  safe- 
guarded, and  of  how  this  sense  of  immunity 
fostered  finally  a  life  of  material  comfort 
and  enjoyment. 

All  this  had  an  effect  upon  local  architec- 
tural types,  and  the  great  part  played  by  the 
valley  of  the  Rhine  in  the  development  of 
manners  and  customs  is  not  excelled  by  any 
other  topographical  feature  in  Europe,  if  it 
is  even  equalled. 

Coupled  to  the  wonders  of  art  are  the 
wonders  of  nature,  and  the  Rhine  is  bounti- 
fully blessed  with  the  latter  as  well. 

The  conventional  Rhine  tour  of  our  fore- 
fathers is  taken,  even  to-day,  by  countless 
thousands  to  whom  its  beauties,  its  legends, 
and  its  history  appeal.  But  whether  one  goes 
to  study  churches,  for  a  mere  holiday,  or  as 
a  pleasant  way  of  crossing  Europe,  he  will 
be  struck  by  the  astonishing  similarity  of 
tone  in  the  whole  colour-scheme  of  the 
Rhine. 

The  key-note  is  the  same  whether  he  fol- 
lows it  up  from  its  juncture  with  salt  water 
at  Katwyck  or  through  the  gateway  of  the 
"  lazy  Scheldt,"  via  Antwerp,  or  through 
Aix-la-Chapelle  and  Cologne. 

Sooner  or  later  the  true  Rhineland  is 
27 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

reached,  and  the  pilgrim,  on  his  way,  whether 
his  shrines  be  religious  ones  or  worldly,  will 
drink  his  fill  of  sensations  which  are  as  new 
and  different  from  those  which  will  be  met 
with  in  France,  Italy,  and  Spain  as  it  is 
possible  to  conceive. 

From  the  days  of  Charlemagne,  and  even 
before,  down  through  the  fervent  period  of 
the  Crusades,  to  the  romantic  middle  ages, 
the  Rhine  rings  its  true  note  in  the  gamut, 
and  rings  it  loudly.  It  has  played  a  great 
part  in  history,  and  to  its  geographical  and 
political  importance  is  added  the  always 
potent  charm  of  natural  beauty. 

The  church-builder  and  his  followers,  too, 
were  important  factors  in  it  all,  for  one  of 
the  glories  of  all  modern  European  nations 
will  ever  be  their  churches  and  the  memories 
of  their  churchmen  of  the  past. 


28 


Ill 

THE  CHURCH   IN  GERMANY 

There  have  been  those  who  have  claimed 
that  the  two  great  blessings  bestowed  upon 
the  world  by  Germany  are  the  invention 
of  printing  by  Gutenberg,  which  emanated 
from  Mayence  in  1436,  and  the  Reformation 
started  by  Luther  at  Wittenberg  in  15 17. 
The  statement  may  be  open  to  criticism,  but 
it  is  hazarded  nevertheless.  As  to  how  really 
religious  the  Germans  have  always  been,  one 
has  but  to  recall  Schiller's  "  Song  of  the 
Bell."  Certainly  a  people  who  lay  such 
stress  upon  opening  the  common  every-day 
life  with  prayer  must  always  have  been  de- 
voted to  religion. 

The  question  of  the  religious  tenets  of  Ger- 
many is  studiously  avoided  in  this  book,  as 
far  as  making  comparisons  between  the  Cath- 
olic and   Protestant  religions   is  concerned. 

At  the  finish  of  the  "  Thirty  Years'  War," 
North  Germany  had  become  almost  entirely 

29 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

Protestant,  and  many  of  the  former  bishops' 
churches  had  become  by  force  of  circum- 
stances colder  and  less  attractive  than  for- 
merly, even  though  many  of  the  Lutheran 
churches  to-day  keep  up  some  semblance  of 
high  ceremony  and  altar  decorations.  It 
is  curious,  however,  that  many  of  these 
churches  are  quite  closed  to  the  public  on  any 
day  but  Sunday  or  some  of  the  great  holidays. 

In  the  Rhine  provinces  the  Catholic  faith 
has  most  strongly  endured.  In  the  German 
Catholic  cathedrals  the  morning  service  from 
half-past  nine  to  ten  is  usually  a  service  of 
much  impressiveness,  and  at  Cologne,  be- 
loved of  all  stranger  tourists,  nones,  vespers, 
and  compline  are  sung  daily  with  much 
devotion. 

The  ecclesiastical  foundation  in  Germany 
is  properly  attributable  to  monkish  influ- 
ences. Between  the  Rhine  and  the  Baltic 
there  were  no  cities  before  the  time  of 
Charlemagne,  although  the  settlements  es- 
tablished there  by  the  Church  for  the  con- 
version of  the  natives  were  the  origin  of  the 
communities  from  which  sprang  the  great 
cities  of  later  years. 

The  monkish  orders  were  ever  a  power- 
ful body   of   church-builders,    and   north   of 

30 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  Alps  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  cen- 
turies, even  though  they  were  the  guardians 
of  literature  as  well  as  of  the  arts,  the  monks 
were  possessed  of  an  energy  which  took  its 
most  active  form  in  church-building. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  origin 
of  the  later  Romanesque  church-building, 
whether  it  was  indigenous  to  Lombard  Italy 
or  not,  it  was  much  the  same  in  Spain, 
France,  England,  and  Germany,  though  it 
took  its  most  hardy  form  in  Germany,  per- 
haps with  the  cathedral  of  Speyer  (1165- 
90),  which  is  one  of  the  latest  Romanesque 
structures,  contemporary  with  the  early 
Gothic  of  France.  In  Italy,  and  elsewhere 
along  the  Mediterranean,  the  pure  Roman- 
esque was  somewhat  diluted  by  the  Byzan- 
tine influence;  but  northward,  along  the 
course  of  the  Rhine,  the  Romanesque  influ- 
ence had  come  to  its  own  in  a  purer  form 
than  it  had  in  Italy  itself. 

Here  it  may  be  well  to  mention  one  per- 
tinent fact  of  German  history,  in  an  attempt 
to  show  how,  at  one  time  at  least.  Church 
and  state  in  Germany  were  more  firmly 
bound  together  than  at  present. 

The  Germanic  Empire,  founded  bv 
Charlemagne  in  the  year  800,  was  dissolved 

31 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

under  Francis  II.,  who,  in  1806,  exchanged 
the  title  of  Emperor  of  Germany  for  that 
of  Emperor  of  Austria,  confining  himself  to 
his  hereditary  dominions. 

In  the  olden  times  the  Germanic  Empire 
was  in  reality  a  league  of  barons,  counts,  and 
dukes,  who,  through  seven  of  their  number, 
elected  the  emperor. 

These  electors  were  the  Archbishops  of 
Mayence  (who  was  also  Primate  and  Arch- 
chancellor  of  the  Empire),  Treves,  and  Co- 
logne; the  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  Arch- 
Steward  of  the  Empire;  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg,  Arch-Chamberlain;  the  Duke 
of  Saxony,  Arch-Marshal;  and  the  King 
of  Bohemia,  Arch-Cupbearer. 

In  no  part  of  the  Christian  world  did  the 
clergy  possess  greater  endowments  of  power 
and  wealth  than  did  those  of  the  Rhine 
valley. 

The  Archbishop  of  Cologne  was  the  Arch- 
chancellor  of  the  Empire,  the  second  in  rank 
of  the  electoral  princes,  and  ruler  of  an  im- 
mense territory  extending  froni  Cologne  to 
Aix-la-Chapelle;  while  the  Archbishops  of 
Mayence  and  Treves  played  the  role  of 
patriarchs,  and  were  frequently  more  power- 
ful even  than  the  Popes. 

32 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

All  the  bishops,  indeed,  were  invested  with 
rights  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  those  of 
the  churchman  and  those  of  the  grand  sei- 
gneur, which  they  exercised  to  the  utmost 
throughout  their  dioceses. 

St.  Boniface  was  sent  on  his  mission  to 
Germany  in  715,  having  credentials  and  in- 
structions from  Pope  Gregory  II.  He  was 
accompanied  by  a  large  following  of  monks 
versed  in  the  art  of  building,  and  of  lay 
brethren  who  were  also  architects.  This 
we  learn  from  the  letters  of  Pope  Gregory 
and  the  "  Life  of  St.  Boniface,"  so  the  fact 
is  established  that  church-building  in  Ger- 
many, if  not  actually  begun  by  St.  Boniface, 
was  at  least  healthily  and  enthusiastically 
stimulated  by  him. 

•  Among  the  bishoprics  founded  by  Boni- 
face were  those  of  Cologne,  Worms,  and 
Speyer,  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  all  of 
these  cities  have  ample  evidences  of  the 
round-arched  style  which  came  prior  to  the 
Gothic,  which  followed  later.  If  anything 
at  all  is  proved  with  regard  to  the  distinct 
type  known  as  Rhenish  architecture,  it  is 
that  the  Lombard  builders  preceded  by  a 
long  time   the   Gothic   builders. 

Charlemagne's  first  efforts  after  subduing 
33 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  heathen  Saxons  was  to  encourage  their 
conversion  to  Christianity.  For  this  purpose 
he  created  many  bishoprics,  one  being  at 
Paderborn,  in  795,  a  favourite  place  of  resi- 
dence  with   the   emperor. 

Great  dignity  was  enjoyed  by  the  Bishop 
of  Paderborn,  certain  rights  of  his  extending 
so  far  as  the  Councils  of  Utrecht,  Liege,  and 
Munster.  The  abbess  of  the  monastery  at 
Essen,  near  Diisseldorf,  was  under  his  rule; 
and  the  Counts  of  Oldenberg  and  the  Dukes 
of  Cleves  owed  to  him  a  certain  allegiance; 
while  certain  rights  were  granted  him  by 
the  cities  of  Cologne,  Verdun,  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,   and  others. 

These  dignities  endured,  in  part,  until  the 
aftermath  of  the  French  Revolution,  which 
was  the  real  cause  of  the  disrupture  of  many 
Charlemagnian  traditions. 

After  the  Peace  of  Luneville,  in  1801,  the 
electorates  of  Cologne,  Treves,  and  Mayence 
were  suppressed,  together  with  the  princi- 
palities of  Munster,  Hildesheim,  Paderborn, 
and  Osnabriick,  while  such  abbeys  and  mon- 
asteries as  had  come  through  the  Reforma- 
tion were  dissolved. 

Besides  Charlemagne's  bishoprics,  others 
founded  by  Otho  the  Great  were  suppressed. 

34 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Upon  the  restoration  of  the  Rhenish  prov- 
inces to  Germany  in  1814,  the  Catholic  hier- 
archy was  reestablished  and  a  rearrangement 
of  dioceses  took  place.  A  treaty  with  the 
Prussian  state  gave  Cologne  again  an  arch- 
bishopric, with  sufifragans  at  Treves,  Miin- 
ster,  and  Paderborn,  and  Count  Charles 
Spiegel  zum  Desenburg  was  made  arch- 
bishop. Other  provinces  aspired  to  similar 
concessions,  and  certain  of  the  suppressed 
sees  were   reerected. 

The  Lutherized  districts,  north  and  east- 
ward of  the  Rhine,  were  very  extensive,  but 
the  influence  which  went  forth  again  from 
Cologne  served  to  counteract  this  to  a  great 
extent. 

The  Catholic  hierarchy  in  Germany  is 
made  up  as  follows: 


ARCHBISHOPRICS 

SUFFRAGANS 

Posen  and  Gnesen 

Kulm  and  Ermeland 

Breslau 

Olmiitz 

Prague 

Cologne 

Hildesheim,  Osnabriick,  Miin- 

ster,      Paderborn,      FuKla. 

Limburg,  Treves,  Mayence, 

Freiburg  in  Breisgau 

Wiirtemberg,  Augsburg, 

Munich  and  Freising 

Passau  and  Ratisbon. 

35 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ARCHBISHOPRICS  SUFFRAGANS 

Bamberg  Wiirzburg,      Eichstadt,     and 

Speyer,  and  the  Vicariat  of 


Dresden. 


Strasburg  and  Metz 


The  religious  population  of  Germany  to- 
day is  divided  approximately  thus:  Protes- 
tants, 63  per  cent.;  Catholics,  36  per  cent.; 
Jews,  I  per  cent. 

The  reign  of  the  pure  Gothic  spirit  in 
church-building,  as  far  as  it  ever  advanced 
in  Germany,  was  at  an  end  with  the  wars 
of  the  Hussites  and  the  Reformation  of 
Luther.  During  these  religious  and  political 
convulsions,  the  Gothic  spirit  may  be  said 
to  have  died,  so  far  as  the  undertaking  of 
any  new  or  great  work  goes. 

Just  as  we  find  in  Germany  a  different 
speech  and  a  different  manner  of  living  from 
that  of  either  Rome  or  Gaul,  we  find  also 
in  Germany,  or  rather  in  the  Rhenish  prov- 
inces, a  marked  difference  in  ecclesiastical 
art  from  either  of  the  types  which  were 
developing  contemporaneously  in  the  neigh- 
bouring countries. 

The  Rhine  proved  itself  a  veritable  bor- 
derland,   which    neither    kept    to    the    strict 

36 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

classicism  of  the  Romanesque  manner  of 
building,  nor  yet  adopted,  without  question, 
the  newly  arisen  Gothic  of  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries. 

Architecture  and  sculpture  in  its  earliest 
and  most  approved  ecclesiastical  forms  un- 
doubtedly made  its  way  from  Italy  to 
France,  Spain,  Germany,  and  England, 
along  the  natural  travel  routes  over  which 
came  the  Roman  invaders,  conquerors,  or 
civilizers  —  or  whatever  we  please  to  think 
them. 

Under  each  and  every  environment  it  de- 
veloped, as  it  were,  a  new  style,  the  flat  roofs 
and  low  arches  giving  way  for  the  most  part 
to  more  lofty  and  steeper-angled  gables  and 
openings.  This  may  have  been  caused  by 
climatic  influences,  or  it  may  not;  at  any 
rate,  church-building — and  other  building 
as  well  —  changed  as  it  w^nt  northward,  and 
sharp  gables  and  steep  sloping  lines  became 
not  only  frequent,  but  almost  universal. 

The  Comacine  Masters,  who  were  the 
great  church-builders  of  the  early  days  in 
Italy,  went  north  in  the  seventh  century,  still 
pursuing  their  mission;  to  England  with  St. 
Augustine,  to  Germany  with  Boniface,  and 
Charlemagne  himself,  as  we  know,  brought 

Z1 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

them  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  for  the  work  at  his 
church  there. 

The  distinctly  Rhenish  variety  of  Roman- 
esque ecclesiastical  architecture  came  to  its 
greatest  development  under  the  Suabian  or 
Hohenstaufen  line  of  emperors,  reaching  its 
zenith  during  the  reign  of  the  great  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa    (1152-90). 

The  churches  at  Neuss,  Bonn,  Sinzig,  and 
Coblenz  all  underwent  a  necessary  recon- 
struction in  the  early  thirteenth  century  be- 
cause of  ravages  during  the  terrific  warfare 
of  the  rival  claimants  to  the  throne  of  Bar- 
barossa. 

Frederick,  one  claimant,  w^as  under  the 
guardianship  of  Pope  Innocent  III.,  and 
Philip,  his  brother,  was  as  devotedly  cared 
for  by  the  rival  Pope,  Gregory  VIII.  Fi- 
nally Innocent  compromised  the  matter  by 
securing  the  election  of  Otho  IV.,  of  Bruns- 
wick. 

With  that  "  hotbed  of  heresies,"  Holland, 
this  book  has  little  to  do,  dealing  only  with 
three  centres  of   religious  movement  there. 

Holland  was  the  storm-centre  for  a  great 
struggle  for  religious  and  political  freedom, 
and  for  this  very  reason  there  grew  up  here 
no  great  Gothic  fabrics  of  a   rank  to   rival 

38 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

those  of  France,  England,  and  Germany. 
Still,  there  was  a  distinct  and  most  pictur- 
esque element  which  entered  into  the  church- 
building  of  Holland  in  the  middle  ages,  as 
one  notes  in  the  remarkable  church  of  De- 
venter.  In  the  main,  however,  if  we  except 
the  Groote  Kerk  at  Rotterdam,  St.  Janskerk 
at  Gouda,  the  archbishop's  church  ,  at 
Utrecht,  and  the  splendid  edifice  at  Dor- 
drecht, there  is  nothing  in  Holland  archi 
tecturally  great. 


39 


IV 

SOME  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  RHENISH 
ARCHITECTURE 

It  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  church- 
building  of  one  nation  was  any  more  thor- 
ough or  any  more  devoted  than  that  of  any 
n  other.  All  the  great  church-building  powers 
of  the  middle  ages  were,  it  is  to  be  presumed, 
possessed  of  the  single  idea  of  glorifying  God 
by  the  building  of  houses  in  his  name. 

"  To  the  rising  generation,"  said  the  edi- 
tor of  the  Architectural  Magazine  in  1838, 
"  and  to  it  alone  do  we  look  forward  for  the 
real  improvement  in  architecture  as  an  art 
of  design  and  taste." 

"  The  poetry  of  architecture "  was  an 
early. and  famous  theme  of  Ruskin's,  and 
doubtless  he  was  sincere  when  he  wrote  the 
papers  that  are  included  under  that  general 
title;  but  the  time  was  not  then  ripe  for 
an  architectural  revolution,  and  the  people 
could  not,  or  would  not,  revert  to  the  Gothic 

40 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

or  even  the  pure  Renaissance  —  if  there  ever 
was  such  a  thing.  We  had,  as  a  result,  what 
is  sometimes  known  as  early  Victorian,  and 
the  plush  and  horsehair  effects  of  contem- 
porary times. 

In  general,  the  churches  of  Germany,  or 
at  least  of  the  Rhine  provinces,  are  of  a 
species  as  distinct  from  the  pure  Gothic, 
Romanesque,  or  Renaissance  as  they  well 
can  be.  Except  for  the  fact  that  of  recent 
years  the  art  nouveau  has  invaded  Germany, 
there  is  little  mediocrity  of  plan  or  execution 
in  the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  that  coun- 
try, although  of  late  years  all  classes  of  archi- 
tectural forms  have  taken  on,  in  most  lands, 
the  most  uncouth  shapes,  —  church  edifices 
in  particular,  —  they  becoming,  indeed,  any- 
thing but  churchly. 

The  Renaissance,  which  spread  from  Italy 
just  after  the  period  when  the  Gothic  had 
flowered  its  last,  came  to  the  north  through 
Germany  rather  than  through  France,  and 
so  it  was  but  natural  that  the  Romanesque 
manner  of  building,  which  had  come  long 
before,  had  a  much  firmer  footing,  and  for 
a  much  longer  period,  in  Germany,  than  it 
had  in  France.  Gothic  came,  in  rudimentary 
forms   at  any   rate,   as  early  here   as   it  did 

41 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

to  France  or  England;  but,  with  true  Ger- 
man tenacity  of  purpose,  her  builders  clung 
to  the  round-arched  style  of  openings  long 
after  the  employment  of  it  had  ceased  to  be 
the  fashion  elsewhere. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  distinctive  feature 
of  the  ecclesiastical  edifices  erected  in  Ger- 
many in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
when  the  new  Gothic  forms  were  elsewhere 
budding  into  their  utmost  beauty. 

One  strong  constructive  note  ever  rings 
out,  and  that  is  that,  while  the  Gothic  was 
ringing  its  purest  sound  in  France  and  even 
in  England,  at  least  three  forces  were  play- 
ing their  gamut  in  Germany,  producing  a 
species  quite  by  itself  w^hich  was  certainly 
not  Gothic  any  more  than  it  was  Moorish, 
and  not  Romanesque  any  more  than  was  the 
Angevin  variety  of  round-arched  forms, 
which  is  so  much  admired   in   France. 

One  notably  pure  Gothic  example,  al- 
though of  the  earliest  Gothic,  is  found  in 
Notre  Dame  at  Treves,  with  perhaps  another 
in  the  abbey  of  Altenburg  near  Cologne; 
but  these  are  the  chief  ones  that  in  any  way 
resemble  the  consistent  French  pointed  ar- 
chitecture which  we  best  know  as  Gothic. 

The  Rhenish  variety  of  Romanesque  lived 
42 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

here  on  the  Rhine  to  a  far  later  period,  no- 
tably at  Bonn  and  Coblenz,  than  it  did  in 
either  France  or  England. 

German  church  architecture,  in  general, 
is  full  of  local  mannerisms,  but  the  one  most 
consistently  marked  is  the  tacit  avoidance 
of  the  true  ogival  style,  until  we  come  to  the 
great  cathedral  at  Cologne,  which,  in  truth, 
so  far  as  its  finished  form  goes,  is  quite  a 
modern  affair. 

In  journeying  through  Northeastern 
France,  or  through  Holland  or  Belgium, 
one  comes  gradually  upon  this  distinct  fea- 
ture of  the  Rhenish  type  of  church  in  a 
manner  which  shows  a  spread  of  its  influence. 

All  the  Low  Country  churches  are  more 
or  less  German  in  their  motive;  so,  too,  are 
many  of  those  of  Belgium,  particularly  the 
cathedral  at  Tournai  and  the  two  fine 
churches  at  Liege  (Ste.  Croix  and  the  ca- 
thedral), which  are  frankly  Teutonic;  while 
at  Maastricht  in  Holland  is  almost  a  replica 
of  a  Rhenish-Romanesque  basilica. 

At  Aix-la-Chapelle  is  the  famous  "  Round 
Church "  of  Charlemagne,  which  is  some- 
thing neither  French  nor  German.  It  has 
received  some  later  century  additions,  but 
the   "  octagon "   is   still   there,    and   it  stands 

43 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

almost  alone  north  of  Italy,  where  its  prede- 
cessor is  found  at  Ravenna,  the  Templars' 
Church  in  London  being  of  quite  a  different 
order. 

Long  years  ago  this  Ravenna  prototype, 
or  perhaps  it  was  this  eighth-century  church 
of  Charlemagne's,  gave  rise  to  numerous  cir- 
cular and  octagonal  edifices  erected  through- 
out Germany;  but  all  have  now  disappeared 
with  the  exception,  it  is  claimed,  of  one  at 
Ottmarsheim,  a  fragment  at  Essen,  and  the 
rebuilt  St.  Gereon's  at  Cologne, 

These  round  churches  —  St.  Gereon's  at 
Cologne,  the  Mathias  Kapelle  at  Kobern, 
and,  above  all,  Charlemagne's  Miinster  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  others  elsewhere,  nota- 
bly in  Italy  —  are  doubtless  a  survival  of  a 
pagan  influence;  certainly  the  style  of  build- 
ing was  a  favourite  with  the  Romans,  and 
was  common  even  among  the  Greeks,  where 
the  little  circular  pagan  temples  were  al- 
ways a  most  fascinating  part  of  the  general 
ensemble. 

It  would  hardly  be  appropriate  in  a  book 
such  as  this  to  attempt  to  trace  the  origin 
of  Gothic,  as  we  have  come  to  know  that 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  century  varietv  of 
pointed   architecture,  which,   if   anything,   is 

44 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

French  pointed.  It  has  been  plausibly 
claimed  that,  after  its  introduction  into 
France  and  England,  it  developed  into  the 
full-blown  style  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
which  so  soon  fell  before  the  Renaissance 
in  the  century  following. 

In  Germany  the  process,  with  differences 
with  regard  to  its  chronology,  was  much  the 
same. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  among  writers  of 
all  weights  of  opinion  to  break  into  an  ap- 
parently irresistible  enthusiasm  with  regard 
to  Gothic  architecture  in  general,  and  this, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  is  excusable.  Most  of  us 
will  agree  that  "  the  folk  of  the  middle  ages 
had  fallen  in  love  with  church-building,  and 
loved  that  their  goldsmith's  work,  and  ivo- 
ries, their  seals,  and  even  the  pierced  patterns 
of  their  shoes  should  be  like  little  buildings, 
little  tabernacles,  little  '  Paul's  windows.' 
Some  of  their  tombs  and  shrines  must  have 
been  conceived  as  little  fairy  buildings;  and 
doubtless  they  would  have  liked  little  angels 
to  hop  about  them  all  alive  and  blow  fairy 
trumpets." 

In  the  building  of  the  great  cathedrals  it 
must  certainly  be  allowed  that  there  is  an 
element  that  we  do  not  understand.     Those 

45 


Cathedrals  and  Chiirclies  of  the  Rhine 

who  fashioned  them  worked  wonder  into 
them;  they  had  the  ability  which  children 
have  to  call  up  enchantment.  "  In  these 
high  vaults,  and  glistening  windows,  and 
peering  figures,  there  was  magic  even  to  their 
makers." 

Gothic  art  must  ever,  in  a  certain  degree, 
be  a  mystery  to  us,  because  we  cannot  en- 
tirely put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  men 
of  those  times.  "  We  cannot  by  taking 
thought  be  Egyptian  or  Japanese,  nor  can 
we  again  be  Romanesque  or  Gothic,"  nor 
indeed  can  we  explain  entirely  the  motif  of 
Burmese  architecture,  which,  appearing  as  a 
blend  of  Chinese  and  Indian,  stands  out  as 
the  exotic  of  the  Eastern,  as  does  the  Gothic 
of  the  Western,  world. 

Only  in  these  latter  two  species  of  archi- 
tectural art  does  stone-carving  stand  out  with 
that  supreme  excellence  which  does  not  ad- 
mit of  rivalry,  though  one  be  pagan  and  the 
other  Christian. 

Germany,  above  all  other  nations  of  the 
middle  ages  in  Europe,  excelled  in  the 
craftsmanship  which  fashioned  warm,  live 
emotions  out  of  cold  gray  stone,  and  to-day 
such  examples  of  this  as  the  overpowering 
and  splendid   cathedrals   at  Cologne,    Ratis- 

46 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

bon,  Strasburg,  and  Munster  rank  among 
the  greatest  and  most  famous  in  all  the 
world,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  their  con- 
structive elements  were  reminiscent  of  other 
lands. 

The  distinction  between  French  and  Ger- 
man building  cannot  better  be  described  than 
by  quoting  the  following,  the  first  by  James 
Russell  Lowell  on  Notre  Dame  de  Chartres, 
and  the  second  by  Longfellow  on  the  cathe- 
dral at  Strasburg: 

CHARTRES 

"  Graceful,  grotesque,  with  every  new  sur- 
prise of  hazardous  caprices  sure  to  please, 
heavy  as  nightmare,  airy,  light  as  fun,  imag- 
ination's very  self  in  stone." 

STRASBURG 

"  .  .  .A  great  master  of  his  craft, 
Ervin  von  Steinbach  ;  but  not  he  alone, 
For  many  generations  laboured  with  him, 
Children  that  came  to  see  these  saints  in  stone, 
As  day  by  day  out  of  the  blocks  they  rose. 
Grew  old  and  died,  and  still  the  work  went  on. 
And  on  and  on  and  is  not  yet  completed." 

47 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  first  is  typical  of  the  ingenuity  and 
genius  of  the  French,  the  second  of  the  pains- 
taking labour  of  the  Teuton;  what  more 
were  needed  to  define  the  two? 

"  In  Germany  and  throughout  all  the  ter- 
ritory under  the  spell  of  Germanic  influence 
the  growth  of  Gothic  was  not  so  readily 
accomplished  as  in  France,"  says  Gonse. 

"  At  best  such  Gothic  as  is  to  be  seen  at 
Bacharach,  Bonn,  Worms,  etc.,  is  but  a  va- 
riety, so  far  as  the  vaulting  goes,  of  super- 
imposed details  on  a  more  or  less  truthful 
Romanesque  framework.  At  Mayence,  Roer- 
mond,  and  Sinzig,  too,  it  is  the  domical 
vault  which  still  qualifies  the  other  Gothic 
essentials,  and  so  depreciates  the  value  of 
the  Gothic  of  the  Rhine  valley  when  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Royal  Domain  of 
France." 

The  range  of  mediaeval  art  and  architec- 
ture has  been  said  to  run  between  the  fourth 
century  and  the  fourteenth,  or  from  the  peace 
of  the  Church  to  the  coming  of  the  Renais- 
sance. 

This  is  perhaps  definite  enough,  but  the 
scope  is  too  wide  to  limit  any  special  form 
of  art  expression,  so  that  one  may  judge  it 


48 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

comparatively    with    that    which    had    gone 
before  or  was  to  come  after. 

Mostly,  mediaeval  art  groups  itself  around 
the  two  distinct  styles  of  Byzantine  and 
Gothic,  and  they  are  best  divided,  one  from 
the  other,  by  the  two  centuries  lying  between 
the  tenth  and  the  twelfth. 

In  truth,  the  architecture  of  Germany, 
up  to  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  was  as 
much  Byzantine  as  it  was  Romanesque,  and 
the  princes  and  prelates  alike  drew  the  in- 
spiration for  their  works  from  imported 
Italians  and  Greeks,  a  procedure  which  gave 
the  unusual  blend  that  developed  the  distinct 
Rhenish   architecture. 

The  Popes  themselves  gave  a  very  mate- 
rial aid  when  they  sent  or  allowed  colonies 
of  southern  craftsmen  to  undertake  the  work 
on  these  great  religious  edifices  of  the  Rhine 
valley. 

The  grander  plan  of  the  cathedrals  at 
Speyer,  Worms,  Mayence,  Basel,  and  even 
Treves  are  all  due  somewhat  to  this  influ- 
ence, and  for  that  reason  they  retain  even 
to-day  evidences  of  these  foreign  and  even 
Eastern  methods,  though  for  the  most  part 
it  is  in  the  crypt  and  subterranean  founda- 
tions only  that  this  is  found. 

49 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Carlovingian  architecture  was  perhaps 
more  indigenous  to  Germany  than  to  any 
other  part  of  the  vast  Empire.  "  This  ex- 
traordinary man,"  as  the  historians  speak  of 
Charlemagne,  did  much  toward  developing 
the  arts. 

In  the  southeast,  the  Grecian  Empire  was 
already  become  decrepit  in  its  influences, 
and  a  new  building  spirit  was  bound  to  have 
sprung  up  elsewhere.  "  If  Charlemagne," 
says  Gibbon,  "  had  fixed  the  seat  of  his  em- 
pire in  Italy,  his  genius  would  have  aspired 
to  restore,  rather  than  violate  the  works  of 
the  Caesars."  He  confined  his  predilections 
to  the  virgin  forests  of  Germany,  however, 
and  he  despoiled  Lombardy  to  enrich  his 
northern  possessions;  as  witness  the  columns 
which  he  brought  from  Ravenna  and  Rome 
wherewith  to  decorate  his  palace  and  church 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

No  country  has  preserved  finer  or  more 
numerous  examples  of  Romanesque  archi- 
tecture than  Germany.  The  Rhine  was  so 
powerfully  under  Roman  sway  that  it 
adopted  as  a  matter  of  course  and  without 
question  quite  all  of  the  tenets  and  principles 
of  the  Romanesque;    not  only  with   respect 


50 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

to  ecclesiastical  structures,  but  as  regards 
civil  and  military  works  as  well. 

On  the  Rhine,  as  in  Lorraine,  Lyonnaise, 
and  Central  France,  the  Romanesque  en- 
dured with  little  deviation  from  Latin  tra- 
ditions till  quite  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

Later,  in  the  Gothic  period,  Germany 
returned  the  compliment  and  sent  Zamodia 
of  Freiburg  and  Ulric  of  Ulm  to  lend  their 
aid  in  the  construction  of  the  grand  fabric 
at  Milan;  and  John  and  Simon  of  Cologne 
to  Spain  to  erect  that  astonishingly  bizarre 
cathedral  at  Burgos. 

Beginning  with  the  revival  of  the  arts  in 
Italy,  the  Renaissance  German  architects,  in 
other  countries  than  Germany,  were  appar- 
ently few  in  number  and  not  of  their  former 
rank. 

Not  alone  did  Italy  aid  Germany  in  the 
erection  of  ecclesiastical  monuments,  but 
France  as  well,  with  the  Norman  variation 
of  the  Romanesque  and  the  later  developed 
Gothic,  sent  many  monkish  craftsmen  to  lend 
their  aid  and  skill.  Their  work,  however, 
was  rather  the  putting  on  of  finishing  touches 
than  of  planning  the  general  outlines. 

German  architecture  on  the  Rhine  then 
51 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

was  but  a  development  and  variation  of  alien 
importations,  which  came  in  time,  to  be  sure, 
to  be  recognized  as  a  special  type,  but  which 
in  reality  resembled  the  Lombardic  and  the 
Romanesque  in  its  round-arched  forms,  and 
the  Gothic  of  France  in  its  ogival  details. 
German  architecture  in  time,  though  not  so 
much  with  respect  to  churches,  even  went 
so  far  as  to  imitate  the  rococo  and  bizarre 
ornamentation  fathered  and  named  by  the 
Louis  of  France. 

Germany  was  a  stranger  to  the  complete 
development  of  Gothic  architecture  long 
after  it  had  reached  its  maturity  elsewhere; 
so,  too,  it  was  quite  well  into  the  fifteenth 
century  before  the  slightest  change  was  made 
toward  the  interpolation  of  Renaissance  de- 
tails, and  even  then  it  was  Renaissance  art, 
more  than  it  was  Renaissance  architecture, 
which  was  making  itself  felt. 

The  Renaissance  came  to  Germany  through 
the  natural  gateway  of  the  north  of  Italy; 
although  it  spread  perhaps  to  some  extent 
from   France   into   the   Rhine   district. 

In  truth,  German  Renaissance  has  ever 
been  heavy  and  ugly,  though  undeniably  im- 
posing. '  In  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  the 
secular  varieties  it  lacked  the  lightness  and 

52 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

grace  which  in  France,  so  far  as  domestic 
architecture  went,  soon  developed  into  a 
thing  of  surprising  beauty. 

What  the  Renaissance  really  accomplished 
in  Germany  toward  developing  a  new  or 
national  style  is  in  grave  doubt,  beyond  hav- 
ing left  a  legacy  of  bizarre  groupings  and 
grotesque  and  superabundant  ornament.  In 
France  the  case  was  different,  and,  while  in 
ecclesiastical  edifices  the  result  was  poor  and 
banal  enough,  there  grew  up  the  great  and 
glorious  style  of  the  French  Renaissance, 
which,  for  civic  and  private  buildings  of 
magnitude,  has  never  been  excelled  by  the 
modern  architecture  of  any  land. 

In  Germany  proper,  as  well  as  in  Switzer- 
land, one  finds  house-fronts  and  walls  cov- 
ered with  paintings,  which  is  certainly  one 
phase  of  Renaissance  art.  But  the  brush 
alone  could  not  popularize  the  new  style,'  and 
in  religious  edifices,  at  least,  the  Renaissance, 
as  contrasted  with  the  earlier  Romanesque, 
never  attained  that  popularity  along  the 
Rhine  that  it  did  in  France  or  England,  or 
even  in  Belgium. 

Civic  architecture  took  on  the  new  style 
with  a  certain  freedom,  but  religious  archi- 
tecture   almost    not    at    all.       Possibly    the 

53 


Cathedrals  arid  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

^'Thirty  Years' War"  (1618-48)  had  some- 
what to  do  with  stunting  its  growth;  cer- 
tainly no  church-building  was  undertaken  in 
those  years,  and  they  were  the  very  ones  in 
which,  elsewhere,  the  Renaissance  was  mak- 
ing its  greatest  headway. 

Another  very  apparent  reason  is  that,  as 
the  major  part  of  the  population  became 
Protestant,  the  need  of  a  beautiful  church 
edifice  itself,  as  a  stimulus  to  the  faith,  had 
grown  less  and  less.  There  was  a  steady 
growth,  perhaps  one  may  as  well  say  a  great 
development,  in  civil  architecture  through- 
out Germany  at  this  time,  but,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  from  the  early  seventeenth 
century  onward,  the  founding  and  erecting  of 
great  churches  was  at  an  end. 

If  one  would  study  the  Renaissance  in 
Germany  he  must  observe  the  town  halls  of 
such  cities  as  Cologne,  Paderborn,  or  Nu- 
remberg, or  the  great  chateaux  or  castles, 
such  as  are  best  represented  by  ruined  Hei- 
delberg. 

Of  religious  architecture  Renaissance  ex- 
amples are  practically  lacking;  the  most 
convincing  details  along  the  Rhine  being 
seen  in  the  western  tower  of  the  cathedral  at 
Mayence. 

54 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

At  Hildesheim,  at  Nuremberg,  and  at 
Prague  there  are  something  more  than  mere 
"  evidences "  of  the  style,  and  throughout 
Germany,  as  elsewhere,  there  are  many  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  century  accessories, 
such  as  altars,  baldaquins,  tombs,  and  even 
entire  chapels,  which  are  nothing  but  Renais- 
sance in  motive  and  execution.  But  there 
are  no  great  Renaissance  ground-plans,  fa- 
cades, or  clochers,  which  are  in  any  way  rep- 
resentative of  the  style  which  crept  in  to 
ring  the  death-knell  of  Gothic  in  France  and 
England. 

Perhaps  it  is  for  this  reason  alone  that  the 
great  Gothic  cathedral  at  Cologne  was  com- 
pleted at  a  late  day  with  no  base  Renaissance 
interpolation  in  its  fabric. 


55 


THE  ACCESSORIES  OF  GERMAN  CHURCHES 

Up  to  the  tenth  century  the  German  basil- 
icas were  but  copies  of  the  Roman  variety. 
Even  the  great  cathedral  at  Treves,  with  its 
ground-plan  a  great  square  of  forty  metres 
in  extent,  was  but  a  gross  imitation  of  the 
Romanesque  form  of  the  sixth  century. 

Later,  in  the  eighth  century,  came  the 
modified  Byzantine  form  which  one  sees 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

With  the  eleventh  century  appeared  the 
double-apsed  basilicas,  but,  from  this  time 
on,  German  ecclesiastical  art  divorced  itself 
from  Latin  traditions,  and  from  the  simple 
parallelogram-like  basilica  developed  the 
choir  and  transepts  which  were  to  remain 
for  ever. 

The  crypt  is  a  distinct  and  prominent  fea- 
ture of  many  German  churches.  On  the 
Rhine  curious  and  most  interesting  examples 
are    very    frequent,    those    at    Bonn,    Essen, 

56 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Miinchen-Gladbach,  Speyer,  Cologne  (St. 
Gereon's),  Boppart,  and  Neuss  being  the 
chief.  All  of  these  are  so  constructed  that 
the  level  of  the  pavement  is  broken  between 
the  nave  and  choir,  producing  a  singularly 
impressive  interior  effect. 

Speyer  has  the  longest,  and  perhaps  the 
largest,  crypt  in  all  Germany. 

Where  the  edifice  has  remained  an  adher- 
ent of  Catholicism,  the  crypt  often  performs 
the  function  of  a  place  of  worship  independ- 
ent of  the  main  church,  it  being  fitted  up 
with  one  or  more  altars  and  frequently  other 
accessories. 

As  the  crypt,  instead  of  being  only  an 
occasional  attribute,  became  general,  squared, 
or  even  more  rude,  capitals  replaced  the 
antique  and  classical  forms  which  Christian 
Italy  herself  had  adopted  from  pagan 
Greece. 

These  squared  or  cubic  capitals  are  par- 
ticularly noticeable  at  Neuss,  at  Miinchen- 
Gladbach,  in  St.  James  at  Cologne,  and  in 
the  old  abbeyjof  Laach. 

Towers  came  to  be  added  to  the  west 
fronts,  but  the  naves  often  remained  roofed 
with  visible  woodwork,  though,  by  the  end 
of   the   century,   the   stone-vaulted   nave   had 

57 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

appeared  in  the  Rhine  district,  and  the  pil- 
lars of  pagan  birth  had  given  way  to  the 
columns  and  colonnettes  of  Latin  growth. 

What  is  known  as  the  German  manner  of 
church-building  had  more  than  one  dis- 
tinguishing feature,  though  none  more  prom- 
inent than  that  of  the  columns  of  the  nave 
and  aisles.  The  naves  were  in  general  twice 
the  width  of  their  aisles,  and  the  bays  of  the 
nave  were  made  twice  the  width  of  those 
of  the  aisles.  Hence  it  followed  that  every 
pier  or  column  carried  a  shaft  to  the  groin 
of  the  aisle  vault,  and  every  alternate  one 
a  shaft  to  the  nave  vault;  and  so  grew  the 
most  distinct  of  all  German  features  of  Ro- 
manesque church-building,  alternate  light 
and  heavy  piers  in  the  nave. 

It  is  on  the  Rhine,  too,  that  one  comes 
upon  occasional  examples  of  rococo  archi- 
tectural decoration,  a  species  which  sounds 
as  though  it  might  originally  have  been  Ital- 
ian, but  which  was  originally  French.  At 
its  best  it  is  seldom  seen  on  the  exterior,  but 
on  inside  walls  and  porticoes,  notably  at 
Bruchsal  on  the  Rhine,  one  sees  a  frankly 
theatrical  arrangement  of  ornate  details. 

By  the  twelfth  century  the  particular  va- 
riety of  Romanesque  architecture  which  had 

58 


Cathedrals  and  Chiirches  of  the  Rhine 

developed,  and  still  endures,  in  the  Rhine 
valley  had  arrived  at  its  maturity. 

The  thirteenth  century  saw  the  interpola- 
tion and  admixture  of  Gothic,  which  else- 
where, in  France  in  particular,  was  making 
such  great  strides. 

Towers  multiplied  and  became  lighter  and 
more  graceful,  and  great  Gothic  arched  win- 
dows gave  place  to  round-headed  ones, 
though  scarcely  ever  to  the  entire  exclusion 
of   the   latter  variety. 

The  species  of  cross-bred  style  which 
forms  the  link  between  the  Romanesque  and 
Gothic  abounds  along  the  Rhine,  and  ex- 
amples are  frequently  encountered. 

The  semicircular  apsides,  with  a  decora- 
tive band  beneath  the  cornices  of  the  exterior 
galleries,  are  also  a  distinctly  Rhenish  detail. 
They  are  to  be  seen  in  St.  Peter's  at  Bach- 
arach,  at  St.  Castor's  at  Coblenz,  St.  Mar- 
tin's at  Cologne,  the  cathedral  at  Bonn,  in 
St.  Quirinus  at  Neuss,  and  again  at  Limburg. 

The  Rhenish  bell-towers  are  a  variety  dis- 
tinct from  the  towers  and  spires  usually  met 
with,  and  often  terminate  suddenly,  as  if 
they  were   unfinished. 

Finally,  there  are  a  number  of  churches 
in    this    region    which    offer    the    singular, 

59 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

though  not  unique,  disposition  of  a  chevet 
showing  a  triple  apsis.  Notable  examples 
of  this  style  are  St.  Maria  in  Capitola,  St. 
Andrew  and  St.  Martin  at  Cologne,  and  St. 
Quirinus  at  Neuss. 

The  churches  of  the  Rhine  valley  are 
abundantly  supplied  with  steeples,  often  in 
groups  far  in  excess  of  symmetry  or  sense, 
as  for  instance  the  outre  group  at  Mayence, 
which  is  really  quite  indescribable. 

The  Apostles'  Church  at  Cologne,  the 
cathedrals  at  Mayence,  Speyer,  and  Worms, 
and  the  abbey  church  of  Laach  all  have 
wonderfully  broken  sky-lines;  while  those 
with  great  central  towers,  such  as  at  Neuss, 
or  the  parish  church  of  Sinzig,  form  another 
class;  and  the  slim-spired  churches  at  An- 
dernach  and  Coblenz  yet  another.  St.  Mar- 
tin's at  Cologne  is  another  single-spired 
church,  but  it  rises  from  its  three  apses  in 
quite  a  different  manner  from  that  of  St. 
Quirinus  at  Neuss,  and  must  be  considered 
in  a  class  by  itself. 

The  minster  at  Bonn,  though  having  three 
steeples,  is  not  overspired,  like  that  of  Ma- 
yence, —  indeed,  it  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most 
picturesque,  if  somewhat  theatrical,  of  all 
the  spired  churches  of  the  Rhine,  excepting 

60 


w 


ORMS    CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  arid  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

always  Limburg.  The  openwork  spire  of 
Freiburg  is  unequalled  in  grace  by  even  that 
of  Strasburg,  whatever  may  be  the  actual 
value  of   its   constructive   details. 

A  marked  type  of  German  church  archi- 
tecture is  that  species  of  building  known  as 
the  Hallenkirch.  The  variety  is  found  else- 
where, even  in  France,  but  still  it  is  dis- 
tinctively  German    in    its    inception. 

Usually  they  are  of  the  triple-naved  va- 
riety, /.  e.,  a  nave  with  its  flanking  aisles, 
with  the  aisles  nearly  always  of  the  same 
height  as  the  principal  nave. 

There  are  two  great  churches  of  this  order 
—  though  lacking  aisles  —  in  France,  the 
cathedrals  at  Rodez  and  Albi  in  the  south. 

Mostly  these  great  hailed  churches  exist 
in  Westphalia,  where  there  is  a  fine  example 
in  the  cathedral  at  Paderborn,  and  again 
there  is  St.  Ludger  at  Miinster,  and  many 
others.  In  one  form  or  another  the  type  is 
frequently  met  with  throughout  Germany^ 
and  is  therefore  to  be  considered  as  a  dis- 
tinct German   architectural  expression. 

In  summing  up,  then,  one  may  well  con- 
clude that  German  church  architecture,  in 
its  general  plan  and  outline,  is  not  of  the 
amazing   beauty   of    the    French,    and    is    in 

6i 


Cathednils  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

a  way  lacking  in  mass  efifect.  With  respect 
to  details  and  accessories,  however,  the  Ger- 
man churches  are  graced  with  much  that 
one  would  gladly  find  everywhere  as  an  ex- 
pression of  the  artistic  embellishment  of  a 
great   religious  edifice. 

In  spite  of  the  austerity  of  many  of  these 
German  churches  in  the  fabric  itself,  there 
is  frequently  an  abounding  wealth  of  acces- 
sory detail  in  fitments  and  furnishings. 

In  France  the  Revolution  made  away  with 
much  decorative  embellishment  and  furni- 
ture of  all  sorts.  The  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many played  no  such  part,  and  so  there  is 
left  much  really  artistic  detail  which  con- 
tributes a  luxuriance  that  is  wanting  in  con- 
structive details. 

The  universally  elaborate  carven  pulpits 
and  choir-stalls  are  wonders  of  their  kind. 
It  is  true  they  are  usually  of  wood  instead 
of  stone,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Germans  were  ever  great  wood-workers. 

The  pulpits  of  Freiburg  and  Strasburg  are 
thoroughly  representative  of  the  best  work 
of  this  kind.  They  may  be  said,  moreover, 
to  be  of  the  Gothic  species  only,  whereas 
similar  works  elsewhere  are  most  frequently 
of  the  Renaissance   period. 

62 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  no  other  European  country  are  the 
altars  so  rich  in  detail,  the  sacristies  so  full 
to  overflowing  with  jewelled  and  precious 
metal  cups,  vases,  and  chalices,  or  the  cruci- 
fixes, triptychs,  and  candlesticks  so  sumptu- 
ous. 

In  the  cathedral  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  the 
congregation  seats  itself  upon  chairs;  but 
most  frequently  in  Germany  one  finds  sturdy, 
though  movable,  oaken  benches. 

Of  the  carved  choir-stalls,  those  at  St. 
Gereon's  at  Cologne  are  the  most  nearly  per- 
fect of  their  kind  on  the  Rhine;  those  at 
Mayence,  while  elaborately  produced,  being 
of  a  classic  order  which  is  manifestly  pagan 
and  out  of  keeping  in  a  Christian  church. 

German  churches  in  general  made  much 
of  the  cloister,  though  not  all  of  the  examples 
that  formerly  existed  have  come  down  to  us 
undisturbed  or  even  in  fragmentary  condi- 
tion. But,  in  spite  of  the  Protestant  succes- 
sion to  many  of  the  noble  minsters,  many 
of  these  cloisters  have  endured  in  a  fair  state 
of  preservation.  Attached  to  the  western  end 
of  St.  Maria  in  Capitola  at  Cologne  is  an 
admirable  example,  while  the  Romanesque 
types  at  Bonn,  at  the  abbey  of  Laach,  and 
at  Essen   are  truly  beautiful.     Examples  of 

63 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  later  pure  Gothic  construction  are  those 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  and  Treves. 

But  little  exterior  sculpture  has  been  pre- 
served in  all  its  originality  in  the  Rhenish 
provinces,  revolutionary  fury  and  its  after- 
math having  accounted  for  its  disappearance 
or  mutilation.  In  the  Cistercian  church  at 
the  abbey  of  Altenburg,  there  is  a  plentiful 


Chandelier^  A ix-la-Chapelle 

display  of  foliaged  ornament,  and  there  are 
the  noble  statues  in  the  choir  of  the  cathedral 
at  Cologne.  Mayence  has  a  series  of  monu- 
ments to  the  bishop-nobles  attached  to  the 
piers  of  the  nave,  and  in  the  Liebfrau  Kirche 
at  Treves  and  the  cathedral  at  Strasburg  are 
seen  the  best  and  most  numerous  features  of 
this  nature. 

One    of    the    most    unusual    of    mediaeval 
church  furnishings,   a  sort  of  chandelier,   is 

64 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

seen  both  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  and  Hildes- 
heim.  In  each  instance  it  is  a  vast  hoop- 
like pendant  which  bears  the  definition  of 
coronce  lucis.  Others  are  found  elsewhere  in 
Germany,  but  not  of  the  great  size  of  these 
two. 

Organ-cases  here  as  elsewhere  are  mostly 
abominations.  The  makers  of  sweet  music 
evidently  thought  that  any  heavy  baroque 
combination  of  wood-carving  and  leaden 
pipes  was  good  enough  so  long  as  the  flow 
of  melody  was  uninterrupted. 

The  stained  glass  throughout  the  Rhine 
valley  is  mostly  good  and  unusually  abun- 
dant, and  the  freedom  of  this  accessory  from 
fanatical  desecration  is  most  apparent.  The 
same  is  true  of  such  paintings  as  are  found 
hung  in  the  churches,  though  seldom  have 
they  great  names  attached  to  them;  at  least, 
not  so  great  as  would  mark  them  for  dis- 
tinction were  they  hung  in  any  of  the  leading 
picture   galleries   of   Europe. 

At  Essen  the  baptistery  is  separated  from 
the  main  church,  like  that  at  Ravenna,  or  at 
Aix-en-Provence,  the  two  foremost  examples 
of  their  kind.  A  little  to  the  westward  of 
this  minster,  and  joined  to  it  by  a  Roman- 
esque   ligature,     is     a     three-bayed     Gothic 

65 


Cathedrals  and  ChurcJies  of  the  Rhine 


church  which  occupies  the  site,  or  was  built 
up  from  a  former  chapel  dedicated  to  St. 
John  the  Baptist. 


:  /  FONT 
Li  AA  B  U  R-Gr 


Sooner  or  later  the  custom  became  preva- 
lent of  erecting  a  baptismal  font  within  the 
precincts  of  the  main  church  itself,  thus  do- 
ing away  with  a  structure  especially  devoted 

66 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

to  the  purpose.  This  change  came  in  the 
ninth  century,  hence  no  separate  baptisteries 
are  found  dating  from  a  later  epoch  only, 
except  as  an  avowed  copy  of  the  earlier 
custom. 

At  this  time,  too,  immersion  had  given 
way  to  sprinkling  merely,  though  in  many 
cases  the  German  name  still  applied  is  that 
of   taufstein,  meaning  dipping-stone. 

Late  examples  of  fonts  were  frequently  in 
metal,  the  most  remarkable  in  the  Rhine  val- 
ley being  in  St.  Reinhold's  at  Dortmund,  in 
St.  Maria  in  Capitola,  and  St.  Peter's  at 
Cologne,  and  in  St.  Mary's  and  St.  James's 
at  Mayence. 

One  of  the  most  elaborate,  and  certainly 
the  most  beautiful  and  remarkable  of  all, 
is  the  stone  font  of  the  cathedral  at  Limburg. 


67 


^ 


VI 

CONSTANCE  AND  SCHAFFHAUSEN 
Constance 

There  is  a  sentimental  interest  attached  to 
Constance  and  the  lake  which  lies  at  its  door, 
which  has  come  down  to  us  through  the  pic- 
tures of  the  painters  and  the  verses  of  the 
poets.  Aside  from  this,  history  has  played  its 
great  part  so  vividly  that  one  could  not  forget 
it  if  he  would. 

The  city  was  founded  about  297  A.  D.  In 
after  years  it  fell  before  the  warlike  Huns, 
and  all  but  disappeared,  until  it  became  the 
seat  of  a  bishop  in  the  sixth  century,  the  juris- 
diction of  the  bishopric  extending  for  a  dozen 
leagues  in  all  directions. 

In  the  tenth  century  it  became  a  vtlle  im- 
periale,  and  by  the  fifteenth  it  had  a  popula- 
tion of  more  than  forty  thousand  souls,  and 
the  bishopric  counted  eight  hundred  thousand 
adherents.     To-day  the  city  proper  has  de- 

68 


Co>istaiici'  Cathedral 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

creased  in  numbers  to  a  population  which 
hovers  closely  about  the  five  thousand 
mark. 

The  emperors  convoked  many  Diets  at  Con-      y 
stance,  and  in  1183  the  peace  was  signed  here    v 
between    the    Emperor    Barbarossa    and    the 
Lombard  towns.  r    V 

The  cathedral,   or  miinster,   of   Constance    [^     ^^ 
is  dedicated  to  "  Our  Lady,"  and  is  for  the        1  ^ 
most  part  a  highly  satisfying  example  of  a       ' 
Renaissance  church,   though  here   and   there 
may  be  noticed  the  Gothic,  which  was  erected 
on  the  eleventh-century  foundations. 

The  fagade  has  been  restored  in  recent 
years,  and  is  flanked  by  two  pseudo-Roman- 
esque towers  or  campaniles  in  the  worst  of 
taste. 

The  interior  is  divided  into  three  naves  by 
columns  bearing  rounded  arches.  Above,  in 
the  grand  nave,  are  a  series  of  round-headed 
windows,  while  those  in  the  aisles  are  ogival. 

The  choir  contains  a  series  of  Gothic  stalls 
in  stone,  which,  unless  it  has  very  recently 
been  scraped  off,  are  covered  with  the  ordi- 
nary cheap  whitewash. 

The  painted  vaulting  is  atrocious,  and, 
while  its  hideous  colouring  lasts,  it  matters 
little  whether  it  is  of  the  Romanesque  barrel 

71 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

style  or  ogival.  The  nervures  are  there,  so 
it  must  belong  to  the  latter  variety,  but  it  is 
all  so  thickly  covered  with  what  looks  like 
enamel  paint  and  gaudy  red  and  blue  "  lin- 
ing "  that  it  is  painful  to  contemplate. 

There  is  a  fine  statue  of  John  Huss  sup- 
porting the  pulpit.  It  is  an  adequate  monu- 
ment to  one  who  made  history  so  vivid  that 
it  reads  almost  like  legend.  In  the  pavement 
is  a  plaque  of  copper  which  indicates  the 
spot  where  Huss  stood  when  his  sentence  was 
read  out  to  him.  According  to  tradition  — 
some  have  said  that  it  was  the  ecclesiastical 
law — Huss  was  hurled  from  the  church  by 
a  coup  de  pied. 

The  organ-case,  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
which  backs  up  the  inside  wall  of  the  fagade, 
is  one  of  the  most  gorgeous  of  its  kind  extant, 
although  there  is  no  very  high  art  expression 
to  be  discovered  in  the  overpowering  mass  of 
mahogany  and  lead  pipes  which,  with  inade- 
quate supports,  hangs  perilously  upon  a  wall. 

This  particular  organ-case  is  richly  sculp- 
tured with  foliage  and  figures  of  men,  de- 
mons, and  what  not.  If  it  is  symbolic,  it  is 
hard  to  trace  the  connection  between  any  re- 
ligious motive  and  the  actual  appearance  of 
this  ungainly  mass  of  carved  wood. 

72 


Cathedrals  and  C/mrches  of  the  Rhine 

There  is  in  the  cathedral  an  elaborate  alle- 
gorical painting  by  Christopher  Storer,  a 
native  of  Constance,  and  executed  in  1659  by 
the  order  of  Canon  Sigismund  Miiller,  who 
died  in  1686,  and  whose  tomb  is  placed  near 
by. 

An  immense  retable  is  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  nave.  It  is  of  fine  marble,  and,  though 
a  seventeenth-century  copy  of  Renaissance,  is 
far  more  beautiful  than  such  ornaments  usu- 
ally are  outside  of  Italy. 

At  the  head  of  the  left  aisle  is  a  chapel 
which  also  has  an  elaborate  marble  retable 
of  the  same  period.  At  the  summit  is  a  cruci- 
fix, and  below  in  niches  are  statues  of  St. 
Thomas,  of  Constantine,  and  of  his  mother, 
Ste.  Helene.  In  the  same  chapel  is  a  "  Christ 
in  the  tomb,"  in  marble,  surrounded  by  the 
twelve  apostles. 

From  the  same  aisle  ascends  a  charming 
ogival  staircase  ornamented  wnth  statues  and 
bas-reliefs.  Separating  the  chapels  from  the 
aisles  are  tsvo  magnificent  iron  grilles.  In  a 
Gothic  chapel  near  the  entrance  is  a  fine  cul 
de  lampe  sculptured  to  represent  the  history 
of  Adam  and  Eve. 

A  cloister  exists,  in  part  to-day  as  it  did 
of  yore,  to  the  northeast  of  the  cathedral.     It 

73 


4 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

is  a  highly  beautiful  example  of  fifteenth-cen- 
tury work,  with  its  arcades  varying  from  the 
firm  and  dignified  early  Gothic  to  the  more 
flamboyant  style  of  later  years. 

The  church  of  St.  Stephen  is  another  eccle- 
siastical treasure  of  Constance  with  a  rank 
high  among  religious  shrines. 

St.  Stephen's  occupies  the  site  formerly 
given  to  a  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas, 
while  not  far  away  there  was,  in  other  times, 
another  known  under  the  name  of  Maria 
Unter  der  Linden.  The  Bishop  Salomon 
III.,  who  occupied  the  see  from  891  to  919, 
enlarged  the  first  chapel,  which  was  further 
embellished  in  935  by  the  Bishop  Conrad  of 
Altdorf,  who  added  a  choir  thereto. 

This  in  time  came  to  be  known  as  St. 
Stephen's.  It  was  entirely  renovated  in  1047- 
51  by  the  Bishop  Theodoric,  who  was  in- 
terred therein  upon  his  death.  The  church 
served  as  the  meeting-place  of  the  famous 
Roman  tribunal  known  as  the  Sacra  Rota  Ro- 
mana.  Under  the  Bishop  Otto  III.,  who  was 
Margrave  of  Hochberg,  it  was  entirely  recon- 
structed in  1428,  and  to-day  it  is  this  fifteenth- 
century  building  that  one  sees.  Previously, 
if  the  records  tell  truly,  the  great  windows 
of  the  clerestory  contained  coloured  glass  of 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

much  beauty,  but  the  remains  of  to-day  are 
so  fragmentary  as  to  only  suggest  this. 

From  1522  to  1548  St.  Stephen's  was  con- 
secrated to  the  followers  of  Luther,  the  first 
incumbent  under  this  belief  being  the  famous 
Jacob  Windner  of  Reutlingen. 

The  exterior  of  St.  Stephen's  is  not  in  any 
way  remarkable.  The  bell-tower,  which  is 
very  high,  is  a  great  square  tower  to  the  left 
of  the  choir,  surmounted  by  a  steeple  formerly 
covered  with  wooden  shingles,  b&t  in  recent 
times  coppered.  The  clock  in  this  tower  was 
the  gift  of  Bishop  Otto  III.  There  is  also 
a  fine  chime  of  bells,  which  will  remind  one 
of  the  churches  of  the  Low  Countries  when 
he  hears  its  limpid  notes  ring  out  upon  the 
still  air. 

The  interior  has  been  newly  whitened  with 
that  peculiar  local  brand  of  whitewash,  and 
while  bright  and  cheerful  to  contemplate,  is 
also  very  bare,  caused  perhaps  by  the  vast 
size  of  the  nave  and  choir. 

The  aisles  are  separated  from  the  nave  by 
ogival  arches,  rising  from  a  series  of  octagonal 
pillars,  upon  which  are  hung  statues  of  the 
twelve  apostles.  The  wooden  roof  of  the  nave 
and  its  aisles  is  curious  and  dates  from  1600, 
but  it  is  mostly  hidden  by  a  plaster  covering 

75 


Cathedrals  a7td  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

which  was  added  in  the  early  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. 

The  gilded  and  highly  decorated  organ  and 
its  case  dates  from  1583.  In  1819  and  1839 
it  was  "  restored,"  whatever  that  may  mean 
with  regard  to  an  organ,  and  at  some  time 
between  the  two  dates  were  added  two  colossal 
figures  of  David  and  St.  Cecilia.  There  are 
numerous  and  elaborate  paintings  in  St.  Ste- 
phen's which  would  make  many  more  popu- 
lar shrines  famous.  The  most  notable  are 
"  St.  John  before  King  Wenceslas,"  "  The 
Stoning  of  St.  Stephen,"  "  The  Glory  of  the 
Lamb,"  and  an  "  Adoration,"  the  work  of 
Philip  Memberger,  who  painted  this  last  at 
the  time  of  the  reestablishment  of  the  Cath- 
olic faith  at  Constance  in  1550.  A  portrait 
of  the  artist  is  preserved  in  the  sacristy. 

Many  other  works  of  art  were  demolished 
or  carried  away  in  the  years  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

In  1414  three  Popes  disputed  the  honour 
of  occupying  the  Holy  See,  John  XXIII. , 
Gregory  XII.,  and  Benoit  XIII.  The  Em- 
peror Sigismund,  after  having  met  the  depu- 
ties of  each  of  the  aspirants  at  Como  and 
Lodi,  assembled  a  council  to  put  an  end,  if 
possible,    to    the    anarchv   which    had    arisen 

76 


^ 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

within  the  Church.  Its  place  of  meeting 
was  Constance,  and  the  emperors,  kings, 
princes,  cities,  churches,  and  universities  of 
Germany,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Hungary,  Bo- 
hemia, and  Italy  all  sent  their  deputations. 
France  was  represented  by  Pierre  d'Ailly, 
Archbishop  of  Cambrai,  and  Jean  Gerson, 
the  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris. 

The  Council  of  Constance  was  the  most 
numerous  body  which  had  ever  been  called 
together  on  behalf  of  the  Church.  It  opened  \  , 
its  sessions  on  the  5th  of  November,  1414, 
and  continued  until  the  12th  of  April, 
1418. 

John  XXIII.  declared  that  he  would  ab- 
dicate if  his  two  competitors  would  agree 
to  follow  his  example.  Gregory  XII.  agreed 
to  this  and  sent  his  abdication  to  the  council 
by  an  ambassador,  Carlo  Malatesta;  but 
Benoit  XIII.  fled  to  Spain  and  still  clung 
tenaciously  to  the  title  of  Pope.  Finally, 
at  a  conclave  composed  of  thirty-two  cardi- 
nals, Othon  Colonna  was,  in  1417,  elected 
Pope  under  the  name  of  Martin  V. 

The    council    held    at    Constance    which    / 
condemned  John   Huss,  who  was   a  Wyclif  [/ 
disciple  before  he  was  one  of  Luther's,  took 
place  in   1414.     Huss  was  condemned  to  be  l^ 

77 


\ 


s 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

burned  alive  in  1415,  and  "he  mounted  the 
pile,"  says  history,  "  with  the  courage  of  a 
martyr." 

One  may  see  in  the  Place  Briihl,  a  kilo- 
metre from  the  centre  of  Constance,  the  very 
spot  where  the  "  pile  "  was  erected. 

The  present  customs  warehouse  (Kauf- 
haus)  formed  Constance's  famous  council- 
chamber,  and  to-day  it  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  curiosities  of  the  city. 

The  grand  council-chamber  is  situated 
on  the  first  floor  of  the  building,  and  was 
erected  in  1388.  Its  length  approximates  two 
hundred  feet,  and  it  is  perhaps  one  hundred 
in  width  with  a  height  of  twenty  feet. 

The  ceiling  is  held  aloft  by  fourteen 
wooden  pillars,  and  there  are  twenty-three 
windows. 

There  are  no  traces  of  wall  decorations, 
and  the  opinion  is  hazarded  that  the  walls 
and  pillars  were,  at  the  time  of  the  council, 
hung  with  draperies. 

From  the  windows  there  is  a  fine  view  of 
the  Lake  of  Constance,  and  but  a  little  dis- 
tance away  is  the  Franciscan  convent,  now- 
transformed  into  a  factory,  where  was  in- 
carcerated John  Huss  previous  to  his  martyr- 
dom. 

78 


Cathedrals  and  CJmrches  of  the  Rhine 

Schaffhausen 

Of  the  falls  of  Schaffhausen,  Victor  Hugo 
wrote:  "  Effroyable  tumulte."  This  is  the 
first  impression.  The  four  grand,  overflowing 
channels  of  the  cataract  tumble,  rise  and 
redescend   in  an  eternal  tempest  of  rage. 

A  musical  German  once  said  that  the  only 
way  to  express  the  tumult  of  Schaffhausen's 
fall  was  to  "  put  it  to  music."  He  probably 
had  Wagner  in  mind,  and  perhaps  there  are 
persons  who  could  conjure  up  a  picture  of 
its  foam-decked  course  by  means  of  the 
master's  harmonies. 

Montaigne  was  of  a  more  practical  turn 
of  mind.  He  said:  "  Cela  arrete  le  cours 
des  bateaux  et  interrompt  la  navigation  de 
I  adit  e  riviere." 

Compared  with  Niagara,  Victoria  Ny- 
anza,  or  the  great  cataract  at  Yosemite,  the 
falls  of  Schaffhausen  depict  no  great  splen- 
dour of  aspect,  though  they  are  tumultuous 
and  unqualifiedly  picturesque.  Furthermore, 
they  form  a  pretty  setting  for  the  little  city 
of  some  five  thousand  souls  which  bears  the 
same  name. 

With  Basel,  Schaffhausen  has  preserved  its 
mediaeval  character  far  more  than  the  other 

79 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

cities  of  Switzerland.  Its  streets  are  narrow 
and  irregular,  and  most  of  its  houses  are 
of  the  deep-gabled  variety,  many  of  them 
having  their  fronts  frescoed  in  truly  theatri- 
cal fashion,  the  effect,  as  might  be  supposed, 
being  highly  pleasing. 

Schaffhausen  owes  its  prominence  in  the 
commercial  world  to  its  falls,  which  make 
it  necessary  for  merchandise  making  its  way 
between  Constance  and  the  Lower  Rhine  to 
be  transshipped  at  this  point.  The  traffic  is 
by  no  means  so  large  as  that  which  goes  on 
in  the  Lower  Rhine,  but  it  does  exist  in  pro- 
portions so  considerable  as  to  justify  a  cer- 
tain activity  in  this  old-world  town  which 
is  noticeable  to-day,  and  which  has  existed 
for  many  centuries.  The  name  Schaff- 
hausen (Schiffhausen)  comes,  it  is  claimed, 
from  the  houses  of  the  boatmen,  and  this 
seems  sufficiently  plausible  to  be  accepted 
without  question. 

The  Fortress  of  Munoth  dominates  the 
city,  crowning  the  height  of  Mont  Emmers. 
It  occupies  the  site  of  an  ancient  Roman 
stronghold,  and,  like  its  fellows  which  crown 
the  heights  bordering  upon  the  German 
Rhine,  is  formidable  in  its  grimness  if  not 
for  its  actual  value  in  modern  warfare. 

80 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  1052,  Count  Eberhardt  of  Nellenburg 
founded  an  abbey  here,  and  accorded  to  the 
abbot  rights  and  powers  without  limitation, 
so  far  as  the  count's  seigneurial  lands  were 
concerned.  To-day,  however,  Schaf^hausen 
is  not  rich  in  ecclesiastical  monuments.  Its 
cathedral  is  a  Byzantine  edifice  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  is  a  development  from  the 
church  of  the  ancient  abbey  founded  by 
Count  Eberhardt. 

There  are  no  constructive  or  decorative 
details  which  call  for  remark,  save  twelve 
columns,  each  cut  from  a  solid  block  of  sand- 
stone. They  measure  perhaps  twenty  feet  in 
height,  and  are  three  feet  or  more  in  cir- 
cumference. 

There  is  no  resemblance  between  the  ar- 
chitecture of  this  church  and  others  in  the 
Rhine  valley;  therefore  it  cannot  be  consid- 
ered as  typical  of  any  Rhenish  manner  of 
building. 

St.  John's  is  an  ogival  edifice  also  without 
any  great  merit,  unless  it  be  that  of  a  gran- 
deur which  is  contrastingly  out  of  place  in 
its  cramped  surroundings. 

Below  Schafifhausen  is  Sackingen,  the  third 
forest  city  of  the  Rhine.     It  owes  its  origin 


81 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

to  a  convent  of  St.  Hilaire,  founded  in  the 
sixth  century  by  St.   Fridolin. 

The  "  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  recounts  how 
St.  Columba  and  his  disciples  left  Ireland 
and  came  to  Constance,  where  they  separated 
and  went  their  various  ways  to  evangelize 
the  Rhine  valley.  To  St.  Fridolin  fell  that 
part  lying  between  Basel  and  Laufenburg. 
His  bones  are  yet  venerated  in  the  church 
of  St.  Hilaire. 


82 


VII 

BASEL  AND  COLMAR 
Basel 

After  traversing  several  of  the  Swiss  can- 
tons, the  Rhine  leaves  Switzerland  at  Basel. 
After  the  breaking  up  of  the  vast  empire  of 
Charlemagne,  Basel  came  first  under  the 
authority  of  the  Emperors  of  Germany,  and 
then  under  that  of  the  kings  of  the  second 
house  of  Burgundy,  until  1032,  at  which  time 
the  city  became  definitely  incorporated  into 
the  German  Empire. 

Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  besieged  the  city 
in  1274,  ^^d  through  the  fourteenth  and  well 
into  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  the  theatre 
of  many  struggles  between  the  bishops  and 
the  emperors. 

In  1061  and  143 1  important  councils  of 
the  Church  were  held  here. 

In  1489,  at  the  village  of  Dornach,  scarce 
half  a  dozen  miles  from  Basel,  took  place 
that  battle  between  six  thousand   Swiss   and 

83 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

fifteen  thousand  Austrians  which  made  pos- 
sible the  future  independence  of  Switzerland. 

During  the  sixteenth  century  Basel  en- 
joyed a  glorious  era  with  respect  to  science 
and  art. 

Its  university,  the  oldest  in  Switzerland, 
founded  by  Pius  II.,  shone  brilliantly  with 
the  reflected  light  of  the  philosopher  Eras- 
mus, the  alchemist  Paracelsus,  and  many 
theologians  and  geographers.  Hans  Hol- 
bein was  born  here  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. 

The  Rhine  divides  the  city  into  two  un- 
equal parts,  which  are  connected  by  a  bridge 
which  was  originally  constructed  in  1220. 

Although  Basel  bears  even  yet,  in  its  archi- 
tecture, the  stamp  of  an  imperial  city  of  the 
middle  ages,  it  must  be  counted  as  somewhat 
modern.  Nevertheless,  of  all  the  cities  of 
the  first  rank  in  Switzerland  it  resisted  the 
march  of  innovation  the  longest.  For  in- 
stance, there  was  a  time  when  all  the  clocks 
of  the  city  were  an  hour  behind  those  of 
their  neighbours.  In  1778,  however,  the 
Swiss  government  decreed  that  on  the  first 
of  the  following  January  all  the  clocks  of 
the  city  must  be  regulated  by  solar  time. 
The    innovation    excited    the    indignation    of 

84 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  people  exceedingly;  but,  fifteen  days 
after  the  date  originally  set,  the  city  fell  in 
with  the  new  regulation,  and  took  up  anew 
the  routine  of  its  life. 


CLOCK 

B-5LE. 


"  The  most  magnificent  of  the  Swiss 
women,"  says  a  gallant  French  writer,  "  are 
those  of  Basel,  but  they  know  too  much  (at 
all  times  and  all  places),"  he  continued,  some- 
what dulling  the  efifect  of  his  praises. 

85 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

"  They  have  an  elegance  of  carriage  and 
dress,  which,  added  to  their  naturally  agree- 
able qualities,  gives  them  a  preeminence  over 
all  other  women  of  Switzerland." 

All  this  is  as  flowery  a  compliment  as  the 
fair  sex  of  any  country  could  receive,  and, 
judging  from  appearances,  as  one  lingers  a 
few  hours  or  a  few  days  in  Basel,  it  is  all 
true. 

The  most  remarkable  of  all  the  edifices  of 
Basel  is  its  cathedral,  or  miinster,  dedicated 
to  the  Virgin. 

In  certain  of  its  features  one  finds  a  dis- 
tinct Lombard  influence,  —  in  its  sculptures 
and  carvings,  notably  the  two  carved  lions  in 
the  crypt,  which  are  the  counterparts  of 
others  at  Modena  and  Verona  in  Italy,  — 
though  in  general  it  is  a  Gothic  structure. 

The  cathedral  was  founded  by  the  Em- 
peror Henry  II.  of  Bavaria  in  loio,  and  was 
dedicated  in  1019. 

It  is  constructed  of  red  sandstone,  as  are 
the  chief  of  the  architectural  monuments 
along  the  Rhine,  and  is  an  imposing  example 
of  the  Gothic  of  that  time. 

The  great  portal  on  the  west  is  richly  dec- 
orated in  the  archivolt.  It  is  flanked  on 
either  side  by  an  arcade  whose  buttress  pil- 

86 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

lars  are  each  surmounted  by  a  statue  in  a 
canopied  niche  or  baldaquin. 

At  the  foot  of  the  north  tower  is  an  eques- 
trian statue  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon, 
and  at  the  angle  of  the  southern  tower  is 
another  of  St.  Martin. 

Two  small  doorways,  each  entering  the 
side  aisles,  flank  the  arcade  of  the  portal. 
Above  the  principal  doorway  of  this  fagade 
is  a  balcon  a  jour  before  the  great  window 
which  lights  the  main  nave. 

The  towers  rise  beside  this  great  window, 
and  are  of  themselves  perhaps  the  most  re- 
markable features  of  the  church. 

They  are  not  exactly  alike,  but  they  reflect 
more  than  any  other  part  of  the  edifice  the 
characteristics  of  the  Gothic  of  these  parts. 
The  northern  tower  was  completed  in  1500, 
and  is  sixty-six  metres  in  height.  The  south- 
ern tower  is  perhaps  more  ornate,  and  re- 
sembles, if  somewhat  faintly,  Texier's  beau- 
tiful spire  at  Chartres. 

The  ogival  windows  of  the  side  walls  are 
strong  and  of  ample  proportions. 

At  the  extremity  of  the  north  transept  is 
a  doorway  known  as  the  Porte  de  St.  Gall, 
decorated  with  statues  of  the  four  evangelists. 
Above  is  a  great  round  window  of  the  vari- 

^1 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ety  so  commonly  seen  in  France.  It  is  here 
known  as  the  "  Wheel  of  Fortune."  It  is 
not  a  particularly  graceful  design,  the  rays 
or  spokes  being  formed  of  tiny  colonnettes, 
but  is  interesting  nevertheless  and  quite  un- 
usual along  the  Rhine. 

The  coping  of  the  roof  of  the  nave  is 
formed  of  party-coloured  tiles,  which  give 
it  a  singular  bizarre  effect  when  viewed  from 
near  by. 

The  interior  divides  itself  in  the  conven- 
tional manner  into  three  naves,  which  are 
bare  and  with  no  ornamentation  whatever. 

The  pulpit  is  a  real  work  of  art,  and  there 
are  some  sculptured  capitals  in  the  choir 
which  are  quite  excellent. 

The  baptismal  fonts  are  elaborately  carved. 
One  of  these,  bearing  the  date  of  1465,  is 
shaped  something  like  a  gigantic  egg-cup. 
Its  bowl  springs  from  the  stem  in  eight 
facets,  sculptured  to  illustrate  the  baptism 
of  Christ  in  the  waters  of  the  Jordan,  with 
figures  of  St.  Lawrence,  St.  Jacques,  St.  Paul, 
St.  Pierre,  and  St.  Martin. 

Holbein  once  made  a  series  of  decorations 
for  the  organ-case  of  this  church,  but  they 
exist  no  longer. 

Beneath  the  edifice,  with  its  entrance  from 
88 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  choir,  is  a  crypt  nearly  as  large  as  the 
nave  itself,  with  a  series  of  massive  pillars 
supporting  its  vault  and  the  pavement  of  the 
church   proper. 

There  are  numerous  monuments  w^ithin  the 
church,  including  one  to  Erasmus,  the  illus- 
trious Hollander  who  had  made  Basel  his 
second  home. 

A  stairway  leads  from  the  church  to  the 
chamber  where  was  held,  from  1431  to  1444, 
the  famous  Council  of  Basel.  It  is  a  vast, 
bare  room,  with  no  furniture  whatever,  ex- 
cept the  benches  upon  which  sat  the  prelates 
assembled  at  the  council. 

The  cloister  attached  to  the  cathedral  is 
daintily  planned  and  contains  a  number  of 
tombs  of  celebrated  persons. 

Behind  the  church  is  a  magnificent  terrace 
known  as  the  Pfalz.  It  is  planted  with  chest- 
nut-trees, and  its  elevation,  high  above  the 
level  of  the  Rhine  waters,  makes  it  a  mag- 
nificent promenade. 

The  Hotel  of  the  Three  Kings  —  though 
it  is  to-day  a  modern  structure  that  one  sees 
—  was,  in  the  ninth  century,  the  meeting- 
place  of  Conrad  III.,  Henry  III.,  and  Ru- 
dolph III.,  the  last  King  of  Burgundy.  Fol- 
lowing another  tradition,  the  house  derived 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

its  nomenclature  from  the  reliques  of  "  the 
Three  Magi,"  which  were  lodged  here  when 
on  their  journey,  in  1161,  from  Milan  to 
Cologne. 

In  the  museum  at  Basel  are  two  of  Hol- 
bein's sketches  made  from  statues  in  the 
Sainte  Chapelle  at  Bourges  in  France.  They 
represent  the  Duke  Jean  de  Berry  and  his 
wife,  Jeanne  de  Boulogne.  It  seems  rather 
curious  that  a  great  draughtsman  like  Hol- 
bein should  deliberately  have  set  himself  to 
copying  from  a  cast,  which  is  practically 
what  it  amounted  to  in  this  case,  charming 
though  these  drawings  be. 

Colmar 

Colmar,  the  chief  town  of  the  "  circle 
of  Colmar,"  was  once  strongly  fortified.  It 
still  has  something  more  than  fragments  left 
of  its  seven  towered  and  turreted  gates. 

Formerly  it  was  the  capital  of  Upper  Al- 
sace, and  later  it  was  the  capital  of  the  De- 
partement  du  Haut  Rhin.  As  a  result  of 
the  war  of  1871  it  became  a  German  city. 

To  Americans  and  Frenchmen  it  will  per- 
haps be  most  revered  as  being  the  birthplace 
of   Auguste    Bartholdi,    the   designer   of   the 

90 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

celebrated  Statue  of  Liberty  at  New  York. 
(There  is  a  smaller  counterpart  at  Paris, 
on  the  He  des  Cygnes  in  the  Seine,  which 
is  often  overlooked  by  visitors  to  the  capital.) 

The  church  of  St.  Martin  is  a  thirteenth- 
century  Gothic  church  of  more  than  usual 
splendour.  Its  fine  foundations  date  from 
1237,  and  its  choir  from  1315.  It  is  of  the 
conventional  Latin  cross  form,  with  two 
imposing  towers  and  a  really  grand  portal. 
It  is  built  of  red  sandstone,  and  is  sur- 
mounted with  a  wonderfully  massive  steeple, 
which  looks  more  like  an  adjunct  to  a  for- 
tification than  a  dependency  of  a  Christian 
edifice.  There  is  a  counterpart  of  this  fea- 
ture in  the  cathedral  at  Dol  in  Brittany,  but 
there  it  has  the  added  detail  of  a  crenelated 
parapet,  which  gives  it  a  still  more  military 
air. 

In  other  days  this  great  tower  on  St.  Mar- 
tin's at  Colmar  served  the  purposes  of  a  civic 
belfry  as  well  as  that  of  a  Christian  cam- 
panile. 

In  the  sacristy  of  this  rather  grim  church 
is  an  admirable  fifteenth-century  work  of  art, 
a  Virgin  surrounded  by  garlands  of  roses, 
executed  by  Schongauer,  a  native  of  Colmar 


91 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

(1450-88)  and  one  of  the  greatest  painters 
and  sculptors  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

There  is  the  restored  fabric  of  the  famous 
convent  of  the  Dominicans,  known  as  Unter- 
linden,  which  is  to  be  considered  as  one  of 
the  chief  curiosities  of  the  town.  It  was 
built  in  1232,  before  even  the  church  of 
St.  Martin,  and  its  history  was  exceedingly 
prominent  in  the  records  of  mysticism  in 
Germany. 

The  conventual  establishment  was  sup- 
pressed at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  but 
in  the  mid-nineteenth  century  it  was  rebuilt 
with  a  great  deal  of  thought  for  the  repro- 
duction of  the  Gothic  architecture  of  the  era 
of  its  inception. 


92 


VIII 

FREIBURG 

The  steeple  of  Freiburg  is  quite  the  rival 
of  that  of  Strasburg;  some  even  may  think 
it  more  beautiful. 

It  has  braved  with  impunity  the  winds 
and  tempests  of  many  centuries,  and  stands 
to-day  as  beautiful  a  work  of  its  kind,  when 
one  is  away  from  Strasburg,  Chartres,  Ant- 
werp, or  Malines,  as  one  can  well  conceive. 

Its  appearance  is  indeed  magnificent,  with 
a  richness  of  ornament  which  has  not  been 
carried  to  the  excess  that  would  make  it 
tawdry,  and  an  outline  which  in  every  pro- 
portion is  just  and  true. 

Each  day  brings  new  admirers  to  this 
shrine,  and  one  and  all,  antiquarians  and 
cursory  travellers  alike,  go  away  with  an 
enthusiastic   regard   for   its  charms. 

Freiburg  itself  does  not  go  very  far  back 
into  antiquity.  It  owes  its  origin  to  Berthold 
III.,    Duke   of   Zahringen,   who   founded    it 

93 


Cathedrals  and  ChtircJics  of  the  Rhine 

in  1118  and  made  it  the  capital  of  Breisgau, 
one  of  the  most  fertile  districts  of  the  ancient 
German   duchy. 

The  cathedral  at  Freiburg  marks  the  open- 
ing of  a  new  era  in  the  Christian  architecture 
of  Germany.  It  was  founded  in  1122  by  the 
Duke  of  Zahringen,  soon  after  he  took  over 
the  guardianship  of  the  city,  but  it  was  only 
in  1513' that  it  was  entirely  completed. 

Nothing  now  remains  of  the  primitive 
church  except  the  transept  and  the  base  of 
the  lateral  portals.  The  nave  dates  from 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the 
choir  was  mostly  rebuilt  at  the  same  time. 
The  dedication  did  not  take  place  until  a 
century  and  a  half  later. 

The  structure  is  in  the  conventional  form 
of  a  Latin  cross,  with  the  usual  nave  and 
aisles  and  a  series  of  chapels  surrounding 
the  apside. 

The  fagade  is  remarkable  for  the  porch, 
which  is  highly  ornamented  with  sculpture 
and  forms  the  lowest  story  of  the  tower. 

The  pediment  above  the  entrance  is  gar- 
nished with  statuary  representing  the  crown- 
ing of  the  Holy  Virgin,  while  just  below, 
at  the  sides,  are  two  kneeling  figures,  with 
crowns  on  their  heads,  bent  in  prayer. 

94 


-•*fwry*«^^  p>^ 


REIBURG    CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  ChitycJies  of  the  Rhine 

Besides  this  gallery  of  saintly  figures,  there 
are  also  sculptured  symbols  which,  in  such 
a  company,  might  well  be  thought  profane: 
iigures  representing  Geometry,  Music,  Arith- 
metic, and  the  Arts. 

In  the  tower,  above  the  porch,  is  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  St.  Michael,  lighted  by  three 
ogival  windows.  It  is  now  a  bare,  uninter- 
esting chamber,  its  altar  and  decorations  hav- 
ing disappeared. 

The  third  story  of  the  tower  forms  the 
belfry,  from  which  springs  the  gently  taper- 
ing and  beautiful  spire  which  rises  to  a 
height  only  forty  feet  less  than  that  of  Stras- 
burg. 

The  dwindling  spire  has  a  dozen  facets 
which  in  some  mysterious  way  unite  with  the 
octagon  of  the  belfry  in  a  manner  that  leaves 
nothing  to  criticize. 

Within  the  cathedral  there  are  some  ac- 
ceptable mural  decorations  in  the  wall  space 
above  the  western  arch  of  the  transept  cross- 
ing. There  are  also  a  number  of  funeral 
monuments,  finely  sculptured  and  quite  re- 
markable of  their  kind.  One,  a  "  Christ  in 
the  Sepulchre,"  is  admirably  executed  in  the 
sixteenth-century  style  of  Koempf,  who  is 
responsible  also  for  the  elaborate  pulpit. 

95 


Cathedrals  and  Chttrches  of  the  Rhine 

There  are  two  other  churches  in  Freiburg 
of  more  than  usual  interest;  the  parish 
church  with  a  fine  fourteenth-century  clois- 
ter, and  the  Protestant  temple,  a  modern 
structure  in  the  Byzantine  style,  which  has 
been  built  up  on  the  remains  of  the  church 
belonging  to  the  ancient  Benedictine  convent 
of  Tonnenbach,  which  existed  in  the  twelfth 
century. 

In  the  chapel  of  the  university  are  a  num- 
ber of  paintings  by  Holbein. 


96 


IX 

STRASBURG 

The  greatest  curiosity  of  Strasburg  is  the 
Rhine;   after  that,  its  cathedral. 

Uusually,  on  entering  Strasburg,  the  first 
landmark  that  greets  one's  eye  is  the  slim, 
lone  spire  of  the  cathedral. 

Years  ago  an  itinerant  showman  travelled 
about  with  a  model  of  the  celebrated  Stras- 
burg clock,  and  the  writer  got  his  first  ideas 
of  a  great  Continental  cathedral  from  the 
rather  crude  representation  of  the  Gothic 
beauties  of  that  at  Strasburg,  which  graced 
the  canvas  which  hung  before  the  showman's 
tent. 

The  clock  is  still  there,  in  all  its  mystical 
incongruity,  but  one's  interest  centres  in  the 
grace  and   elegance  of  the   dwindling  spir^. 
and   its   substructure   of   nave,   transept,  "and 
choir,  which  dominates  all  else  round  about. 

Of  many  eras,  the  structure  of  this  great 
Latin-cross  cathedral  is  not  harmonious;   but, 

97 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  0/  the  Rhine 

for  all  that,  it  is  a  great  Gothic  triumph,  and 
one  which  might  well  lend  most  of  its  details 
of  construction  and  decoration  to  any  great 
church,  and  still  add  a  charm  which  was 
hitherto  absent. 

Strasburg  has  in  all  fifteen  churches,  but 
the  cathedral  is  possessed  of  more  and  greater 
glories  than  all  the  others  combined. 

From  the  days  when  Strasburg  was  the  Ar- 
gentoratum  of  the  Romans,  the  city  has  ever 
been  the  scene  of  an  activity  which  has  made 
its  importance  known  through  all  the  world. 
It  w^as  sacked  by  Attila  and  his  Huns  in  451, 
and  was  completely  abandoned  up  to  the  sev- 
enth century,  when  one  of  the  sons  of  Clovis 
built  it  up  anew  and  gave  to  it  the  name  of 
Strateburgum. 

Ptolemy  is  said  to  be  the  first  writer  who 
mentions  Argentoratum,  the  ancient  Stras- 
burg. 

What  a  bitter  blow  the  loss  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, of  w^hich  Strasburg  was  the  gem,  was 
to  France  can  only  be  realized  by  a  contem- 
plation of  the  sentiment  which  even  yet  at- 
taches to  the  event. 

That  the  allied  provinces  were  French  in 
spirit  as  well  as  Catholic  in  religion  is  dem- 
onstrated by  the  fact  that,  at  the  time  of  the 

98 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

German  occupation,  there  was  a  population 
of  over  a  million  and  a  half  of  souls,  of  which 
quite  a  million  and  a  quarter  were  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith.  About  a  million  and 
a  quarter  were  natives  of  Alsace-Lorraine, 
one  hundred  thousand  were  Germans,  and 
thirty  odd  thousand  were  foreigners. 

The  present  cathedral  was  erected  on  a  site 
that  had  been  consecrated  to  religion  in  very 
early  times.  It  had  been  a  sacred  place  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  though  the  deities 
worshipped  were  pagan,  a  temple  to  Her- 
cules and  Mars  having  been  erected  here. 

The  first  Christian  church  was  built,  it  is 
believed,  in  the  fifth  century,  by  St.  Amand, 
then  Bishop  of  Strasburg. 

This  first  church  of  Strasburg,  which  was 
a  wooden  structure,  was  probably  founded 
by  Clovis,  504,  and  reconstructed  by  Pepin- 
le-Bref  and  Charlemagne.  It  was  mostly  des- 
troyed by  fire  in  873,  and  in  1002  was  pillaged 
and  fired  anew  by  the  soldiers  of  Duke  Her- 
mann, who  was  condemned  himself  to  repair 
the  damage.  Lightning  destroyed  it  again  in 
1007,  ^^^)  by  the  time  the  new  structure  was 
thought  of,  nothing  but  the  crypt  of  Charle- 
magne's edifice  was  visible. 

From  the  proceeds  received  from  Duke 
99 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Hermann,  and  contributions  from  all  Chris- 
tianity, Bishop  Werner  conceived  a  vast 
scheme  of  a  new  church  which  in  time  was 
completed  and  consecrated. 

This  in  turn  fell  before  the  ravages  of  fire, 
and  nothing  but  a  mass  of  debris  remained, 
from  which  the  present  structure  was  begun 
in  1277. 

The  ancient  church  foundation  of  Stras- 
burg  was  peculiarly  arranged,  after  a  manner 
most  unusual  in  a  cathedral  church.  The 
ground-plan  of  the  ecclesiastical  establishment 
was  not  unlike  those  of  the  monkish  com- 
munities which  were  so  plentifully  scattered 
over  Europe,  but  it  was  built  for  use  as  a 
church,  and  for  the  bishop  and  his  clerics, 
instead  of  being  merely  a  secular  monas- 
tery. 

The  following  diagram  explains  this  un- 
usual arrangement. 

The  masonic  theory  with  regard  to  the  con- 
struction of  these  mediaeval  ecclesiastical 
monuments  is  of  much  interest  in  connection 
with  Strasburg.  The  lodge  at  Strasburg  was 
the  earliest  in  the  north  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge,  and  Ervin  von  Steinbach  himself 
seems  to  have  been  at  the  head  of  it,  which 
fact  proves  that  he  was  one  of  the  first  of 

100 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


secular  architects  engaged  upon  a  great  relig- 
ious work. 

Great   opportunities    and    privileges    were 
conferred  upon  him  by  Rudolph  of   Haps- 


A 

73 
9 

y3 
S             9 

1  I 

1  1 

1  1 

1         i 
9 

S      5 

1     1 

c 

Jl       Ji 

/ 

s 

1  1 

I  f 

\  1 

^ 

II       II 

Ancient  Church  Foundation,  Strasburg 


A  —  Habitation  of  bishops  and  clerics 

B  —  Cour  commune 

C —  Part  assigned  to  women 

D  —  Part  assigned  to  men 

E  —  For  preaching 


F  —  For  penitents 

G  —  Doors 

H  — Altars 

I  —  Pulpits 

K  —  Choir  for  clergy 


burg,  and  the  masonic  lodge  of  which  he  was 
the  head  had  the  power,  over  a  wide  extent 
of  territory,  to  maintain  order  and  obedience 
among  the  workmen  under  its  jurisdiction. 

lOI 


Cathedrals  and  CJiurches  of  the  Rhine 

In  1278  Pope  Nicholas  III.  issued  a  bull, 
giving  the  body  absolution,  and  this  was  re- 
newed by  his  successors  up  to  the  time  of 
Benedict  XII. 

lodoque  Dotzinger,  master  of  the  works  at 
Strasburg  in  1452,  formed  an  alliance  bet^veen 
the  different  lodges  of  Germany. 

It  was  an  appreciative  Frenchman  —  and 
all  Frenchmen  are  appreciative  and  fond  of 
Strasburg,  because  of  what  it  once  was  to  them 
—  that  said:  "  L,a  cathedrale  est  un  mer- 
veille  unique  au  monde."  Continuing,  he 
said:  "  Those  who  have  not  seen  it  know  not 
the  gaiete  lumineuse  of  a  Gothic  church." 

All  of  this  is  of  course  quite  true  from  some 
points  of  view. 

There  is,  however,  something  pitiful  about 
the  general  aspect  of  this  great  Gothic  church. 
Its  lone  spire,  standing  grim  and  gaunt  against 
a  background  of  sky,  makes  only  the  more 
apparent  the  incompleteness  of  the  struc- 
ture. 

Its  fagade  is  certainly  marvellous,  quite 
rivalling  those  of  Reims  and  Toul,  not  so  very 
far  away  across  the  French  border. 

The  triple  porch  of  the  facade  is  rich  in 
sculpture,  the  most  remarkable  groups  being 
"  The    Wise    and    Foolish    Virgins,"    "  The 

102 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Prophets,"  "  The  Last  Judgment,"  and 
"  Christ  and  the  Twelve  Apostles." 

A  great  rose  window,  a  reminiscence  of  the 
masterpieces  so  frequently  seen  in  France,  also 
decorates  this  elaborate  fagade. 

The  south  portal  is  in  the  form  of  two 
round-arched  doorways,  and  is  a  survival, 
evidently,  of  one  of  the  earliest  epochs  of  this 
style  of  construction.  It  is  ornamented  with 
bas-reliefs  and  statues  symbolical  of  the  tri- 
umph of  Christian  religion.  There  has  re- 
cently been  erected  before  this  portal  a  statue 
of  the  great  architect  of  the  fabric,  Ervin, 
and  another  of  his  son. 

The  spire,  one  of  the  most  elevated  in 
Europe,  is  440  feet,  while  that  of  Cologne  is 
482  feet,  Rouen  is  458  feet,  and  Notre  Dame 
at  Paris  but  200  feet  in  height. 

Usually  church  edifices  are  grim  and  gray; 
but  Strasburg  presents,  in  its  sandstone  of  the 
Vosges,  a  beautiful  tone,  which  in  the  wester- 
ing sun  of  a  summer's  day  can  only  be  de- 
scribed as  a  rose-pink,  and  is  like  no  other 
church  edifice  in  Europe,  unless  it  be  the 
cathedral  at  Rodez  in  Mid-France,  which 
Henry  James  called  mouse-coloured,  but 
which  in  reality  is  a  sort  of  warm,  deep  rose. 

A  fine  lacework  of  colonnettes  covers  the 
10^ 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

entire  facade,  which  six  centuries  have  turned 
to  the  colour  of  iridescent  copper  organ- 
pipes. 

But  the  real  grandeur  and  dignity  of  the 
architecture  stands  out  boldly  in  spite  of  the 
ornate  turrets  and  the  mass  of  sculptured  de- 
tail, in  a  way  which  stamps  the  fabric  impe- 
rially as  a  giant  among  its  kind. 

Of  the  spire,  Victor  Hugo  wrote  thus 
(Strasburg  was  yet  French,  and  not  German 
as  it  is  to-day)  :  "  The  truly  adorable  achieve- 
ment of  the  builders  of  this  cathedral  is  its 
spire.  It  is  a  tiara  of  stone  crowned  with  a 
cross.  It  is  prodigious,  gigantic,  but  of  great 
delicacy.  I  have  seen  Chartres;  I  have  seen 
Antwerp.  Four  escaliers  a  jour  ascend  spi- 
rally the  four  towerlets  at  the  angles.  The 
steps  are  very  high  and  narrow.  .  .  .  To 
mount  to  the  lantern  one  would  have  to  follow 
the  workmen,  who  appear  to  be  continually 
engaged  on  the  fabric.  The  stairways  are  no 
more,  simply  bars  of  iron  set  ladderlike  in 
the  masonry. 

"  From  the  spire  one  sees  three  mountain 
ranges:  the  group  of  the  Black  Forest  to  the 
north;  the  Vosges  to  the  west;  and  the  Alps 
to  the  south. 

"  One  stands  so  high  that  the  country-side 
104 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

appears  no  longer  as  the  country-side;  but, 
like  the  view  from  the  castle  at  Heidelberg, 
a  mere  geographical  map. 

"  At  the  time  of  my  visit  a  great  cloud  rose 
up  from  the  valley  of  the  Rhine,  and  framed 
the  panorama  for  a  dozen  leagues  in  truly 
eerie  fashion.  As  I  went  from  one  tower  to 
another,  I  saw  about  me  la  France,  la  Suisse, 
and  I'AUemagne." 

It  was  in  1277  that  the  celebrated  architect, 
Ervin  von  Steinbach,  began  the  construction  /  V^ 
of  the  portal  of  the  cathedral  at  Strasburg,  ' 
and  above  its  great  doorway  one  may  yet  read, 
if  he  be  keen  of  eyesight  and  knows  where  to 
look  for  it,  this  inscription: 

ANNO.    DOMINI.    MCCLXXVII.    IN.    DIE. 

BEATI. 

URBANI.    HOC.    GLORIOSUM.    OPUS. 

INCOHAVIT 

MAGISTER.    ERVINUS    DE    STEINBACH 

Ervin  died  in  13 18,  and  his  son  continued 
the  work  up  to  the  first  landing,  or  platform, 
of  the  towers. 

In  the  archives  of  the  cathedral  are  still 
to  be  seen  the  designs  on  which  father  and 
son  worked  in  achieving  the  portal  and  tow- 

105 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

ers,  as  well  as  those  of  the  spire,  the  north 
porch,  the  pulpit,  and  the  organ-buffet.  Not 
all  of  these  are  contemporary,  but  the  first, 
at  least,  are  the  very  drawings  which  were 
handled  by  Maitre  Ervin  and  his  son  in  the 
latter  years  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  following  lines  of  Longfellow  describe 
the  religious  fervour  of  the  great  architect 
perhaps  more  truthfully  than  could  prose. 

"...   A  great  master  of  his  craft, 
Ervin  von  Steinbach  ;  but  not  he  alone. 
For  many  generations  laboured  with  him, 
Children  that  came  to  see  these  saints  in  stone, 
As  day  by  day  out  of  the  blocks  they  rose. 
Grew  old  and  died,  and  still  the  work  went  on, 
And  on  and  on  and  is  not  yet  completed. 

"...   The  architect 
Built  his  great  heart  into  these  sculptured  stones. 
And  with  him  toiled  his  children,  and  their  lives 
Were  builded  with  his  own  into  the  walls 
As  offerings  to  God." 

It  is  perhaps  not  possible  to  write  of  Stras- 
burg's  cathedral  without  giving  its  great  clock 
more  than  a  passing  thought. 

The  legendary  history  of  the  clock  at  Stras- 
burg  is  as  follows: 

1 06 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  cathedral  being  terminated,  the  mag- 
istrates of  the  city  desired  to  ornament  its 
tower  with  a  great  clock  which  should  be 
unique  in  all  the  world. 

No  one  came  forth  to  undertake  the  com- 
mission, until  a  workman,  much  advanced  in 
years,  agreed  for  a  certain  sum  to  produce  a 
clock  which  should  be  superior  to  all  others 
then  existing. 

After  some  years  of  incessant  work,  he  pro- 
duced the  first  of  Strasburg's  wonderful  me- 
chanical clocks  full  of  moving  figures  and 
symbols. 

In  lieu  of  recompense,  the  magistrates,  de- 
siring that  their  city  should  be  the  sole  pos- 
sessor of  such  a  work,  accused  the  old  man  of 
having  had  resource  to  the  aid  of  the  devil  in 
producing  so  weird  a  timepiece,  and  con- 
demned him  to  torture  and  the  loss  of  his 
eyesight. 

Upon  a  pretext  of  making  some  further 
arrangement  of  the  works  before  the  execu- 
tion of  his  sentence,  the  old  man  was  allowed 
once  more  to  mount  the  tower.  Instead  of 
adjusting  the  clock,  he  deranged  it  in  some 
way  so  that  its  chimes  never  rang  out  as  in- 
tended, and  thus  the  magistrates  and  the  citi- 
zens of  Strasburg  were,  in  a  way,  avenged  for 

107 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  injustice  done  the  inventor.  This  famous 
clock  of  Strasburg's  tower  is  now  only  a  mem- 
ory. 

The  more  recent  works  of  a  similar  nature 
have  a  history  less  sordid  and  unpleasant. 
The  first  clock  of  the  cathedral,  placed  inside 
the  church  at  the  crossing,  dated  from  1352, 
and  of  course  was  a  remarkable  work  for  its 
time. 

Two  hundred  years  later  it  was  intended  to 
replace  it  with  another,  but  the  work  was 
never  achieved,  so  a  third  was  begun  with  an 
eiTfort  to  outdo  the  ingenuity  which  had  made 
possible  the  fourteenth-century  astronomical 
wonder. 

It  was  planned  in  1571,  under  the  direction 
of  Conrad  Dasypodius,  of  Strasburg,  and  his 
friend  Daniel  Volkenstein,  an  astronomer  of 
Augsburg.  It  was  completed  in  1574,  re- 
stored in  1669  and  1732,  and  ceased  its  labours 
through  the  stress  of  time  in  1790. 

The  present  great  clock,  certainly  an  un- 
seemly and  incongruous  adjunct  of  a  great 
church,  was  commenced  on  the  24th  of  June, 
1838,  and  installed  on  the  31st  of  December, 
1842.  Its  construction  is  supposed  to  have 
reflected  great  credit  upon  its  designer,  one 
Schwilgu,  a  clock-maker  of  Strasburg.    Noth- 

108 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ing  was  preserved  of  the  more  ancient  time- 
piece, except  its  elaborate  case,  which  was 
restored  and  further  embellished. 

At  the  base  of  the  tower,  on  the  summit  of 
which  is  placed  the  crowing  cock,  is  a  por- 
trait of  the  designer.  "  This  great  man,"  say 
the   local   patriots,   died   an   octogenarian   in 

1856. 

In  1723  a  subterranean  tremor  sent  the 
tower  of  Strasburg's  cathedral  a  foot  out  of 
plumb.  It  speaks  well  for  the  solidity  of  the 
construction  that  no  ill  effects  resulted,  and 
to-day  there  are  no  evidences,  to  the  casual 
observer,  of  this  deflection. 

The  beauty  of  Strasburg's  cathedral  was 
in  so  great  repute  in  the  middle  ages  that  Jean 
Galeaz  Marie,  Visconti  Sforza,  in  1481,  de- 
manded of  the  magistrates  of  the  city  the  name 
of  an  architect  capable  of  completing  his 
cathedral  at  Milan. 

In  a  vaulted  chamber  attached  to  the  cathe- 
dral proper  are  two  strangely  curious  memo- 
rials. They  are  nothing  more  or  less  than 
two  mummies  which,  for  their  better  pres- 
ervation, have  been  varnished,  and  the  cos- 
tumes which  they  anciently  wore  have  from 
time  to  time  been  renewed. 

One  is  the  mummy  of  the  Count  of  Nassau- 
109 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Saarbruck,  who  died  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  the  other  is  that  of  a  young  girl  of  per- 
haps twenty  years,  supposed  to  have  been  his 
daughter. 

The  ancient  church  of  St.  Bartholomew  is 
another  of  Strasburg's  ecclesiastical  shrines 
which  ranks  high  among  great  churches. 

It  dates  from  the  second  half  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  but  frequent  additions  have 
been  made  in  more  recent  times. 

It  possesses  a  remarkable  monument  which 
shows  a  painted  "  Danse  des  Morts,"  with 
figures  of  nearly  life  size.  It  is  a  fresco  on 
the  inner  walls  of  the  overhanging  canopy  of 
a  tomb.  The  painting  dates  from  the  fifteenth 
century,  but  was  only  discovered  in  1824,  on 
the  occasion  of  a  general  renovation  of  the 
church. 

The  choir  was  begun  in  1308  and  com- 
pleted in  1345.  Its  height  and  its  general 
airiness,  and  the  lightness  of  its  vaulting  and 
arches,  unite  in  making  it  quite  unusual  and 
most  worthy  of  note. 

This  ancient  church  to-day  is  occupied  by 
the  Protestants,  and  the  edifice  has  been  di- 
vided up  in  a  somewhat  sacrilegious  manner 
in  order  to  provide  within  its  walls  for  a 
library  and  a  museum. 

no 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Strasburg  has  another  great  church  in  St. 
Thomas,  a  vast  ogival  edifice  which  has  some 
good  glass,  but  which  is  remarkable  above  all 
else  for  the  number  of  its  sepulchral  monu- 
ments, both  ancient  and  modern. 

At  the  end  of  the  choir  is  found  one  of 
those  wonders  of  French  sculpture,  an  alle- 
gorical grouping  of  figures  on  the  tomb  of 
Marechal  de  Saxe. 

It  was  erected  in  1777  by  Pigalle  by  the 
order  of  Louis  XV.  For  a  background  it  has 
a  pyramid  of  gray  marble,  at  the  base  of 
which  is  the  following  inscription: 

MAVRITIO    SAXONI 

CVRLANDIAE    ET   SEMIGALLIAE    DVCI 

SVMMO     REGIORVM     EXERCITVVM 

PRAEFECTO 

SEMPER   VICTORI 

LVDOVICVS    XV 

VICTORIARVM    AVCTOR    ET    IPSE    DVX 

PONI    IVSSIT 

OBIIT  XXX  NOV.  ANNO  MDCCL.  AETATIS 

LV. 

Standing  in  the  centre  of  the  pyramid  is 
a  figure  of  the  marechal  descending  toward 
the  sarcophagus  below.^  A  figure  represent- 
ing Death  is  lifting  the  lid,  and  another,  rep- 

III 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

resenting  France,  is  endeavouring  to  stay  his 
hand.  Flags,  a  reversed  torch,  and  other 
symbols,  with  another  figure  representing  the 
genius  of  war,  complete  the  details  of  this 
elaborate  monument. 

There  is  little  of  anything  but  Gothic,  more 
or  less  pure,  visible  at  Strasburg;  but,  in  spite 
of  this,  it  is  alleged  that,  from  Carlovingian 
times  onward,  there  was  here  a  colony  of  arti- 
sans who  had  been  sent  from  Lombardy  on 
account  of  the  increased  interest  in  the  north 
in  church-building.  If  this  is  so,  they  must 
have  pushed  onward  down  the  Rhine,  as  they 
left  but  little  impression  here,  and,  while 
Rhenish  church-building  was  manifestly  not 
Gothic  in  its  inception,  here  at  Strasburg  there 
are  certainly  no  evidences  of  the  Comacine 
builders  of  Charlemagne's  time. 

Strasburg's  ancient  episcopal  palace  was 
built  in  1731  -41  by  Cardinal  de  Rohan.  It 
was  bought  by  the  city  before  the  Revolution 
and  transformed  into  a  chateau  imperial,  and 
became  later  the  home  of  the  local  univer- 
sity. 

The  edifice  known  in  early  days  as  the 
"  Maison  de  I'Oeuvre  Notre  Dame,"  and  more 
recently  as  "  Stift  zu  unser  lieben  Frauen," 
was  built  in  1581,  numerous  Gothic  sculptures 

1 12 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

from  the  cathedral  being  used  in  its  construc- 
tion. There  is  here  a  remarkable  spiral  stair- 
case in  the  light  and  delicate  flowered  Gothic 
of  its  time. 


113 


METZ 

From  across  the  Moselle,  on  the  height  just 
to  the  south  of  the  city  of  Metz,  is  to  be  had 
one  of  those  widely  spread  panoramas  which 
defy  the  artist  or  the  photographer  to  repro- 
duce. 

There  is  an  old  French  saying  that  the 
Rhine  had  power;  the  Rhone  impetuosity; 
the  Loire  nobility;  and  the  Moselle  elegance 
and  grace.  This  last  is  well  shown  in  the 
charming  river-bottom  which  spreads  itself 
about  the  ancient  Mediomatricorum,  as  Metz 
was  known  to  the  Romans. 

The  enormously  tall  nave  and  transepts  of 
the  cathedral  of  Metz  dominate  every  other 
structure  in  the  city,  in  a  fashion  quite  in  keep- 
ing with  the  strategic  importance  of  the  place 
from  a  military  point  of  view. 

Time  was  when  ecclesiastical  affairs  and 
military  matters  were  much  more  closely  al- 
lied than  now,  and  certainly  if  there  was  any 

114 


e^ 


Met2 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

inspiration  to  be  got  from  a  highly  impressive 
religious  monument  in  their  midst,  the  war- 
riors of  another  day,  at  Metz,  must  have  felt 
that  they  were  doubly  blessed. 

Since  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  Metz,  with 
Strasburg,  has  become  transformed;  but  its 
ancient  monuments  still  exist  to  charm  and 
gratify  the  antiquarian.  Indeed,  it  was  as 
recently  as  1900  that  the  Tour  des  Lennyers, 
a  wonderful  structure  of  Roman  times,  was 
discovered. 

Metz  was  fortified  as  early  as  in  the  third 
century,  and  to-day  its  walls  and  moats, 
though  modern,  —  the  work  of  Vauban,  — 
are  still  wonders  of  their  kind. 

In  the  Roman  period  the  city  was  of  great 
importance.  In  the  fifth  century  it  was  at- 
tacked, taken,  and  destroyed  by  the  Huns; 
but,  when  it  was  rebuilt  and  became  the  cap- 
ital of  Austrasia,  its  prosperity  grew  rapidly. 
In  1552  the  Due  de  Montmorenci  made  him- 
self master  of  the  city,  and  some  months  later 
Henri  II.  made  his  entree.  During  the  win- 
ter of  the  same  year  it  successfully  resisted 
Charles  V.,  thanks  to  Frangois  de  Lorraine 
and  the  Due  de  Guise. 

The  great  abbey  of  St.  Arnulphe  disap- 
peared at  this  time.     It  stood  on  the  site  of 

117 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  present  railroad  station,  where,  in  1902, 
were  found  many  fragments  of  religious 
sculptures,  coming  presumably  from  the  old 
abbey. 

In  1556-62  the  citadel  was  constructed  by 
Marechal  Vielleville.  Within  the  citadel  was 
the  old  church  of  St.  Pierre,  one  of  those 
minor  works  of  great  beauty  which  are  often 
overlooked  when  summing  up  the  treasures 
of  a  cathedral  town.  The  old  church  dated 
originally  from  the  seventh  century,  though 
reconstructed  anew  in  the  tenth,  and  again 
in  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  walls  of  the  surrounding  fortifications 
are  of  incontestable  antiquity.  Beneath  the 
pavement  of  the  chapel  have  recently  been 
found  fragments  of  sculptured  stone  dating 
from  Merovingian  times. 

It  was  during  a  dangerous  illness  at  Metz 
that  Louis  XV.  is  said  to  have  made  the  vow 
which  led  to  the  erection  of  that  pagan-look- 
ing structure,  the  church  of  Sainte  Genevieve, 
more  commonly  known  as  the  Pantheon,  at 
Paris.  It  is  the  largest  modern  church  in 
France,  if,  indeed,  one  can  really  consider  it 
to-day  as  a  church. 

Metz,  before  its  annexation  by  Germany, 
was  as  French  as  Reims  or  Troyes.     Many 

118 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

of  the  natives  of  the  city  have  since  left,  but 
they  have  been  replaced  by  Germans,  so  the 
population  has  not  suffered  in  numbers. 

Of  a  population  of  forty-five  thousand, 
there  are  twenty-four  thousand  soldiers.  Ho- 
tels, shops,  and  cafes  have  become  German- 
ized, but,  curiously  enough,  many,  if  not 
nearly  all,  of  the  cab-drivers  speak  French, 
and  French  money  passes  current  every- 
where. 

Certain  restaurants  preserve  what  they  call 
the  traditions  de  la  cuisine  franqaise,  and  in 
the  municipal  theatre  a  company  of  French 
players  come  from  Nancy  three  times  a  week 
in  the  winter  season. 

Metz,  one  of  the  three  ancient  bishoprics 
of  imperial  Lorraine,  now  forms  a  part  of 
Elsass-Lothringen,  where  the  German  Em- 
peror reigns  as  emperor  and  not  merely  as 
King  of  Prussia. 

The  churches  of  Metz  show  very  little  of 
Romanesque  influences,  though  it  is  indeed 
strong  in  churches  dating  from  the  thirteenth 
century  onward.  Early  Gothic  in  nearly 
every  shade  of  excellence  is  to  be  found  in 
the  churches  of  Metz,  from  the  cathedral 
church  of  St.  Stephen  downwards,  and,  be- 
cause of  this,  it  is  the  Continental  city  where 

119 


Catliedvals  mid  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  development  of  the  style  can  be  most  thor- 
oughly studied  and  appreciated. 

In  many  cases  there  are  only  fragments, 
at  least,  that  which  is  to  be  admired  is  more 
or  less  fragmentary;  but,  in  spite  of  that,  they 
are  none  the  less  precious  and  valuable  as  a 
record. 

Besides  its  churches,  Metz  has,  in  its  ancient 
donjon  or  castle-keep,  a  singularly  impressive 
monument  of  its  past  greatness,  which  stands 
in  the  Geishergstrasse,  or  the  ^ue  de  Chevre- 
mont,  as  the  street  is  called  by  the  French, 
for  Metz,  like  Strasburg  and  the  other  cities 
and  towns  of  poor  rent  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
is  even  yet  a  muddle  of  French  and  German 
proper  names. 

This  great  pile  was  doubtless  the  formier 
royal  shelter  of  Theodoric  and  others  of  his 
line. 

To-day  Metz  is  mostly  a  city  of  strategic 
fortifications;  but  this  is  but  one  aspect,  and 
the  seat  of  the  renowned  bishopric  of  Lor- 
raine has  in  its  cathedral  church  an  ecclesi- 
astical monument  of  almost  supreme  rank. 

St.  Stephen's  Cathedral  is  a  vast  structure 
of  quaint  and  almost  grotesque  outline,  when 
seen  from  across  the  Moselle.  Its  chief  dis- 
tinction, at  first  glance,  is  its  height,  which 

1 20 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

seems  to  dwarf  all  its  other  proportions;  but 
in  reality  it  is  attenuated  in  none  of  its  dimen- 
sions, and  its  clerestory  is  hugely  impressive, 
where  one  so  often  finds  this  feature  a  mere 
range  of  shallow  windows. 

Among  the  great  churches  of  Northern 
Europe,  the  cathedral  of  St.  Stephen  stands 
third,  it  being  surpassed  only  by  the  cathedrals 
of  Beauvais  and  Cologne. 

This  fact  is  frequently  overlooked,  and  or- 
dinarily Metz  would  be  classed  with  that  sec- 
ondary group  which  includes  Reims,  Bourges, 
and  Narbonne;  but  so  accurate  an  authority 
as  Professor  Freeman  vouches  for  the  state- 
ment. 

The  clerestory,  of  a  prodigious  height,  is 
borne  aloft  by  a  series  of  rather  squat-looking 
pillars,  but  again  figures  demonstrate  that 
the  cathedral  at  Metz  is  truly  one  of  the 
wonders  of  its  kind. 

There  is  a  north  tower  which  is,  or  was, 
a  part  of  the  civic  establishment  as  well,  in 
that  it  contained  an  alarm-bell,  similar  to  those 
employed  in  the  Netherlands,  known  as  La 
Mutte.  Twin  towerlets  straddle  the  nave  of 
the  cathedral  in  a  quite  unexplainable  man- 
ner. 

Altogether  the  building  has  a  most  remark- 

121 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

able  and  not  wholly  beautiful  sky-line,  to 
which  one  must  become  accustomed  before 
it  is  wholly  loved. 

Decidedly  the  least  likable  portion  of  the 
exterior  of  St.  Stephen's  is  the  west  front, 
which  is  decidedly  incongruous,  whereas  in 
most  places  it  is  the  west  front  that  shines  and 
is  truly  brilliant.  Certainly,  in  this  respect 
Metz  does  not  follow  that  French  tradition 
which,  in  its  Gothic  churches,  it  otherwise 
obeys. 

St.  Stephen's  really  rises  to  almost  a  su- 
preme height.  It  has  been  said  to  exceed  that 
of  Amiens  and  Beauvais,  but  this  is  manifestly 
not  so,  for,  if  the  figures  are  correct,  it  is  some 
seven  feet  lower  than  Amiens  and  twenty 
lower  than  Beauvais.  Still,  it  rises  to  a  dar- 
ing height,  and  its  "  walls  of  glass,"  with  their 
enormously  tall  clerestory  windows,  only  ac- 
centuate its  airiness  and  grace. 

This  last  quality  is  remarkable  in  Gothic 
architecture  of  so  early  a  period,  the  thir- 
teenth century.  At  St.  Guen  at  Rouen,  to 
which  its  openness  may  be  compared,  and 
perhaps  to  Gloucester  in  England,  the  work 
is  of  a  much  later  date. 

The  interior  of  St.  Stephen's  presents  an 
equally   marked   efifect   of   height   and   bril- 

122 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

liancy,  with  perhaps  an  exaggeration  of  the 
ample  clerestory  at  the  expense  of  the  tri- 
forium. 

There  is  a  remarkable  symmetry  in  the  nave 
and  its  aisles;  and  its  strong  columns,  with 
their  shafting  rising  to  the  roof  groins,  show 
a  method  of  construction  so  daring  that  mod- 
ern builders  certainly  would  not  care  to  copy 
it. 

The  glass  of  the  great  clerestory  windows 
in  the  choir  dates  only  from  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  was  designed  by  one  Bousch  of 
Strasburg. 

The  windows  of  the  north  and  south  tran- 
septs are  exceedingly  brilliant  specimens  of 
the  mediaeval  glass-workers'  art.  There  are 
some  fragmentary  remains,  in  the  clerestory 
of  the  nave,  of  glass  of  a  much  earlier  period 
than  that  in  the  choir,  possibly  contemporary 
with  the  fabric  itself  (thirteenth  century). 
If  this  is  so,  it  is  of  the  utmost  value,  worthy 
to  be  admired  with  the  gold  and  jewelled 
treasures  of  the  cathedral's  sacristy. 

In  the  sacristy  there  used  to  be  the  ring  of 
Arnulphe  and  the  mantle  of  Charles  the 
Great,  but  doubts  have  been  cast  upon  the 
latter,  and  the  former  has  disappeared. 

There  is,  somewhere  about  the  precincts  of 
123 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  cathedral,  a  weird  effigy  of  a  monster 
known  as  the  Grau/y,  which,  like  the  Ta- 
rasque  at  Tarascon  aad  the  dragon  of  St.  Ber- 
trand  de  Comminges,  is  a  made-up,  theatrical 
property  which  even  in  its  symbolism  is  ludi- 
crous in  its  false  sentiment. 

Besides  Metz's  cathedral,  there  is  the 
church  of  St.  Vincent  on  an  island  in  the 
river,  which  lacks  orientation  and  faces  al- 
most due  south.  It  is  as  distinctly  a  German 
type  of  church  as  the  cathedral  is  French; 
but  this  is  more  as  regards  its  outline  than 
anything  else,  for  its  Gothic  is  very,  very  good. 
Its  interior  is  dignified,  but  graceful,  though 
it  lacks  a  triforium. 

St.  Martin's  is  a  smaller  church,  but  is  con- 
temporary with  St.  Stephen's  and  St.  Vin- 
cent's (thirteenth  century) . 

St.  Maximin's  is  a  still  smaller  edifice,  and 
would  be  called  Romanesque  if  German  did 
not  suit  it  better.  It  resembles  somew^hat  the 
parish  churches  seen  in  the  country-side  in 
England,  and  is  in  no  way  remarkable  or 
highly  interesting,  if  we  except  the  tall  cen- 
tral tower. 

St.  Eucharius's  and  St.  Sagelone's  complete 
the  list  of  the  unattached  churches  of  Metz; 


124 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

St.  Clement's  being  but  an  attribute  of  the 
Jesuit  college. 

St.  Eucharius's  stands  near  what  we  would 
call  the  German  Gate,  —  locally  known  as 
Deutsches  Thor,  or  the  Porte  des  Allemands, 
—  a  mediaeval  gateway  built  into,  or  built 
around,  rather,  by  the  modern  fortifications 
with  which  the  city  is  protected. 

The  church  is  most  lofty  for  its  size.  Its 
pier  arches  are  of  great  proportions,  and  its 
clerestory,  like  St.  Stephen's  itself,  is  of  more 
than  ordinarily  ample  dimensions.  There  is 
no  triforium. 

St.  Sagelone's  remains  practically  a  pure 
Gothic  example  of  its  time,  rather  later  than 
the  rest  of  its  kind  in  Metz.  It  has  some  fine 
coloured  glass,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  its 
antiquity  cannot  be  very  great. 

St.  Clement's  is  a  dependency  of  the  Jesuit 
installation,  which  reflects  more  credit  upon 
that  order  than  has  usually  been  accorded 
them  in  the  arts  of  church-building. 

It  is  a  more  or  less  incongruous  combina- 
tion of  the  Italian  and  Gothic  styles,  but 
blended  with  such  a  consummate  skill  that 
the  effect  can  but  be  admired. 

In  form  St.  Clement's  is  frankly  a  Hallen- 
kirche,  with  the  three  naves  of  equal  height. 

125 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  general  the  nave  is  late  Gothic,  with  the 
marked  tracery  of  its  time  in  its  fenestration. 

"rhe  capitals  of  the  piers,  supporting  the 
arches  between  the  nave  and  its  aisles,  are 
stately  but  heavy,  according  to  Gothic  stand- 
ards, and  appear  misplaced,  luxurious  though 
they  undeniably  are.  St.  Clement's  is  sup- 
posed to  resemble  the  variety  of  Gothic  which 
has  been  employed  in  Sicily,  where  Gothic 
of  the  best  was  known,  but  was  used  in  con- 
junction with  other  details,  which  really 
added  nothing  to  its  value  or  beaut)^  as  a  dis- 
tinct style. 

One  leaves  Metz  with  the  memory  full  of 
visions  of  many  churches  and  much  soldiery 
of  the  conventional  German  type. 

There  is  plenty,  in  all  of  these  towns,  to 
remind  one  of  both  France  and  Germany.  In 
the  geography  of  other  times,  Metz  was 
Lotharingian;  but  French  was  very  early  the 
language  of  the  city,  and  its  prelates  and 
churchmen,  when  they  diH  not  use  Latin, 
spoke  only  the  French  tongue,  and  fell  under 
French  influences.  Therefore  it  was  but  nat- 
ural that  the  type  of  Metz's  principal  church 
should  have  favoured  the  French  style,  even 
though  it  developed  German  tendencies. 


126 


!/ 


XI 

SPEYER 

When  Christianity  penetrated  into  the 
vast  and  populous  provinces  of  Germany,  the 
Prankish  kings  favoured  its  progress  and 
founded  upon  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  many 
religious  establishments. 

Dagobert  I.,  King  of  Austrasia,  built  the 
first  church  at  Speyer,  upon  the  ruins  of  a 
temple  which  the  Romans  had  consecrated  to 
Diana.  When,  at  the  beginning  of  the  elev-  i  / 
enth  century,  this  early  structure  fell  in  ruins,  V 
thanks  to  the  bounty  of  Conrad  II.,  another 
of  far  greater  and  more  beautiful  proportions 
was  erected. 

The  idea  of  a  new  edifice  was  proposed  to 
Walthour,  then  bishop,  who,  like  many  of 
his  fellow  prelates  of  the  time,  was  himself 
an  architect  of  no  mean  attainments.  The 
difficult  art  of  church-building  had  no  secrets 
from  the  bishop,  and  he  set  about  the  work 
forthwith,    and    with    ardour.      He    worked 

127 


Cathedrals  and  ChurcJies  of  the  Rhine 

three  years  upon  the  plans,  and  on  the  12th 
of  July,  1030,  in  the  presence  of  the  vassals 
and  seigneurs  of  the  court,  the  emperor  laid 
the  foundation-stone  of  the  present  cathedral, 
and  declared  that  the  church  should  serve 
as  the  sepulchre  of  the  princes  of  his  race. 
Twelve  tombs  were  prepared  beneath  the 
choir,  which  itself  is  known  as  "  the  Choir  of 
the  Kings,"  in  the  same  way  as  the  cathedral 
itself  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  "  Cathedral 
of  the  Emperors." 

Eight  emperors  and  three  empresses  have 
been  placed  within  these  tombs:  Conrad  II., 
Henry  III.,  Henry  IV.,  Henry  V.,  Philip  of 
Suabia,  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  Albert  of 
Austria,  Adolph  of  Nassau,  the  wife  of  Con- 
rad II.,  Bertha,  the  unfortunate  companion 
of  Henry  IV.,  and  Beatrice,  the  wife  of  the 
great  Barbarossa. 

Above  the  tombs  of  the  emperors  one  may 
read  the  following  Latin  inscription: 

''  Filius  hie  —  Pater  Hie  —  Avus  Hie  —  Proavus 
jacet  istic  —  Hie  proavi  eonjux  —  Hie  Henriei  Senior  is." 

The  cathedral  of  Speyer  was  far  from  being 
completed  at  this  time,  but  the  new  bishop, 
Siegfried,  was  a  no  less  able  architect  than 

128 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


his   predecessor,    and   he   directed   the   work 
with  zeal  and  talent. 

Already  the  principal  body  of  the  church 


<         •B-T/lcT/tanus  "^V     h,     -^    ,S. 


> 


was  rearing  itself  skyward,  and  in  1060  the 
edifice  was  practically  complete,  after  thirty 
years  of  persevering  effort. 

It  is  a  bizarre  sort  of  a  church  as  seen  to- 
129 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

day,  and  must  always  have  had  much  the  same 
character;  still  it  is  of  a  style  which  gave  birth 
to  a  new  and  distinct  movement  in  cathedral 
building,  and  the  authorities  have  declared 
that  the  three  edifices  founded  by  the  Emperor 
Conrad,  the  cathedral  of  Speyer,  the  collegiate 
church  of  St.  Guidon,  and  the  monastery  of 
Limburg,  were  the  foundations  of  a  new  school 
of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  and  the  envy  of 
all  the  other  provinces  of  the  Empire. 

The  cathedral  was  consecrated  under 
Bishop  Eginhard,  and  immediately  all 
church-building  Europe  went  into  raptures 
over  it,  its  proportions  and  dimensions,  its 
fine  plan,  its  six  spires,  and  the  magnificently 
spacious  arrangement  of  its  transept  and  ap- 
side. 

In  1 1 59  the  fabric  suffered  much  from  fire, 
but  before  a  decade  had  passed  it  was  re- 
stored in  such  a  manner  that  the  church  again 
stood  complete. 

Another  fire  followed  in  1189,  and  in  1450 
yet  another  of  still  greater  extent,  and  only 
the  holy  vessels,  the  reliquaries,  and  the  altar 
ornaments  wxre  saved  from  the  flames. 

Bishop  Reinhold,  of  Helmstadt,  and  the 
chapter,  set  about  forthwith  to  rebuild  the 
cathedral,  and,  while  its  ashes  were  still  smoul- 

130 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

dering,  they  took  a  vow  to  make  it  more  beau- 
tiful than  before. 

The  bishop  wrote  a  letter  to  Pope  Boniface 
VIII.,  on  the  occasion  of  his  jubilee  in  the 
same  year,  and  obtained  a  pontifical  decree 
that  all  who  gave  financial  help  toward  the 
erection  of  the  new  cathedral  should  be  blessed 
with  the  same  indulgence  as  those  who  visited 
the  tombs  of  the  apostles  at  Rome. 

The  bishop  lost  no  time,  and  his  agents  went 
forth  into  all  Germany  to  get  funds  to  reerect 
the  sepulchral  church  of  the  emperors.  They 
were  received  favourably,  and  twenty-one 
thousand  golden  florins  furnished  Bishop 
Reinhold  the  means  of  carrying  out  his  proj- 
ect- 

After  the  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  Speyer  was  sacked,  pillaged,  and 
burned,  the  sturdy  walls  of  the  cathedral  again 
fell,  and  only  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
it  restored.  For  a  long  time,  only  the  choir 
was  rebuilt,  the  nave  being  neglected  up  to 
1772,  when  Bishop  August  of  Limburg  under- 
took to  restore  the  entire  edifice,  which,  con- 
sidering that  he  did  it  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, he  did  comparatively  well. 

The  choir  and  nave  reflect,  considerably, 
the  spirit  of  the  middle   ages.     The   fagade 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

alone  indicates  the  false  taste  of  the  period  in 
which  it  was  restored. 

In  general  the  exterior  decoration  is  simple 
and  remarkable  for  its  interest. 

The  interior  was  wisely  restored  in  1823, 
and  shows  a  series  of  mural  decorations  of 
more  than  usual  excellence,  and  the  statue  of 
Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  a  modern  work  by  a 
pupil  of  Thorwaldsen's,  is  less  offensive  than 
might  be  supposed. 

In  Speyer's  cathedral  are  an  elaborate  series 
of  frescoes  by  Schraudolph,  forming  a  part 
of  the  extensive  renovation  undertaken  by 
Maximilian  II.  of  Bavaria. 

The  cloister,  built  in  1437,  exists  no  more. 
The  baptistery  is  a  curious  octagonal  edifice 
ornamented  witTi  eight  columns  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  dome.  It  is  lighted  by  eight 
narrow  windows.  The  origin  of  the  baptis- 
tery is  in  dispute;  but,  while  doubts  are  likely 
enough  to  be  cast  upon  the  assertion,  it  is  re- 
peated here,  on  the  strength  of  the  opinion  of 
many  authorities,  that  it  may  have  descended 
from  the  time  of  Dagobert. 

There  are  numerous  grotesque  carvings, 
which  ornament  the  cathedral  in  its  various 
parts,  and  which  have  ever  been  the  despair 
of  antiquarians  as  to  their  meaning. 

1  ^2 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  one  place  on  the  exterior  of  the  apside 
is  a  queerly  represented  melee  between  gnom- 
ish figures  of  men  and  beasts  with  human 
heads.  And  again,  in  the  nave,  there  is  a 
figure  of  a  dwarf  with  a  long  beard,  with  a 
sort  of  helmet  on  his  head,  and  a  sword  at 
his  side.  If  he  is  supposed  in  any  way  to  rep- 
resent the  Church  militant,  the  symbolism  is 
badly  expressed. 

St.  Bernard  preached  the  Crusades  here  in 
the  presence  of  Conrad  III.,  of  Hohenstaufen, 
who  was  so  inspired  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
holy  man  that  he  took  the  cross  himself. 

It  was  in  the  cathedral  of  Speyer,  too,  that 
St.  Bernard  added  to  the  canticle  of  ""  Salva 
Regina  "  these  words,  ''  O  Clemens!  O  Pia! 
O  Dulcis  Virgo  Maria,"  which  have  since 
been  sung  in  all  the  Roman  churches  of  the 
universe. 

An  ancient  legend  recounts  how  one  day 
St.  Bernard  had  come  late  to  the  church,  when 
the  statue  of  the  Virgin  cried  out  to  him :  ^'  O 
Bernharde,  cur  turn  tarde?  "  and  that  the  saint, 
with  very  little  respect  on  this  occasion,  re- 
plied: "  Mulier  taceat  in  ecclesia."  "Since 
that  time,"  says  the  legend,  "  the  Madonna 
has  never  spoken." 


T33 


XII 

CARLSRUHE,  DARMSTADT,   AND   WIESBADEN 
Carlsruhe 

Carlsruhe  is  modern,  very  modern,  and  is 
a  favourite  resting-place  with  those  who 
would  study  the  language  and  customs  of 
Germany.  In  fact,  there  is  not  much  else 
to  attract  one,  except  a  certain  conventional 
society  air,  which  seems  to  pervade  all  of  its 
two  score  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  architectural  treasures  of  the  city 
mostly  bear  eighteenth-century  dates,  from  the 
great  monumental  gateway,  by  which  one 
enters  the  city,  and  on  which  one  reads, 
^^  Regnante  Carolo  Frederico,  M.  B.,  S.  R.  I. 
P.  E.,"  to  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  really 
the  most  beautiful  structure  of  the  city,  which 
dates  only  from  1845,  though  reproducing  the 
Byzantine  style  of  the  early  ages. 

The  great  palace  designed  by  Weinbrunner 
branches  out  like  the  leaves  of  a  fan,  and,  if 
not    the    equal    of    Versailles    or    Fontaine- 

134 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

bleau,  suggests  them  not  a  little  in  general 
effect. 

The  two  chief  churches  of  Carlsruhe  are 
in  no  way  great  ecclesiastical  edifices,  or  of 
any  intrinsic  artistic  worth  whatever.  Both 
the  principal  Protestant  place  of  worship  and 
the  Catholic  edifice  are  from  the  designs  of 
Weinbrunner,  and  are  a  confused  mixture  of 
pretty  much  all  the  well  recognized  details  of 
style,  with  no  convincing  features  of  any. 
They  are  pretentious,  gaudy,  and  quite  out 
of  keeping  with  religious  feeling. 

The  Catholic  edifice  is  a  poor,  ungainly 
imitation  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  which 
reflects  no  dignity  upon  its  author  or  the  re- 
ligion which  it  houses. 

The  Protestant  church  has  its  fagade  orna- 
mented with  six  Corinthian  columns  —  a 
weakly  pseudo-classic  style  —  which  lead  up 
to  a  tower  which  would  be  suitable  enough 
to  a  country-side  German  parish  church,  but 
which,  in  a  prosperous  and  gay  little  metrop- 
olis of  pleasure,  like  Carlsruhe,  is  unappro- 
priate  and  unfeeling,  particularly  when  one 
recalls  that  it  is  a  modern  building  which  one 
contemplates.  The  window  openings,  too,  re- 
call rather  those  of  a  dwelling-house  than  of 
a  religious  edifice.     So,  when  all  is  said  and 

135 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

done,  there  is  not  much  in  favour  of  Carls- 
ruhe's  churches. 

One  link  binds  Carlsruhe  with  the  traditions 
of  ecclesiastical  art  in  Germany,  and  that  is  a 
most  acceptable  statue  of  Ervin  von  Stein- 
bach,  the  master-builder  of  Strasburg's 
cathedral.  It  flanks  the  principal  portal  of 
the  Polytechnic  School. 

Darmstadt 

Though  more  ancient  than  Carlsruhe, 
Darmstadt  has  a  prosperous  modern  appear- 
ance, and  consequently  lacks  those  lovable 
qualities  of  a  tumble-down  mediaeval  town 
which  usually  surround  architectural  treasures 
of  the  first  rank. 

The  Stadthaus,  or  Hotel  de  Ville,  dates 
from  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  Palace 
from  1605  (in  its  reconstructed  form)  ;  but 
there  is  nothing  of  sufficient  interest  about  the 
churches  to  warrant  the  devotee  of  ecclesi- 
astical architecture  ever  setting  foot  within 
their  doors. 

As  delightful  little  cities,  with  tree-bordered 
promenades  and  a  general  air  of  prosperity 
and  modernity,  Carlsruhe  and  Darmstadt  are 
well  enough;  but,  as  the  setting  for  religious 
shrines,  they  are  of  no  importance. 

136 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Behind  the  Stadthaus,  in  the  old  town,  will 
be  found  the  Protestant  place  of  worship.  It 
is  in  unconvincing  Gothic,  with  nothing  re- 
markable about  its  constructive  elements,  and 
little  or  nothing  with  respect  to  its  details. 
One  feature  might  perhaps  arrest  the  atten- 
tion. This  is  a  retable  of  the  conventional 
orthodox  form  which  occupies  the  usual  place 
—  even  in  this  Protestant  church  —  at  the  end 
of  the  choir. 

The  Catholic  church  is  situated  on  a  great 
rectangular  open  place,  known  as  the  Wil- 
helminen  Platz.  It  is  a  recent  construction, 
and  accordingly  atrocious. 

In  form  it  is  an  enormous  rotunda,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-four  feet  in  circumference, 
lighted  by  a  shaft  in  the  centre  of  its  immense 
cupola.  The  porch  by  which  one  enters  this 
rather  pagan-looking  structure  is  simple,  and 
by  far  the  most  gracious  feature  of  the  edifice. 
On  the  frieze  one  reads,  in  great  golden  let- 
ters, the  single  word  "  Deo."  In  the  lunette 
which  surmounts  this  porch  is  a  sculptured 
figure  of  the  Virgin  between  two  adoring 
angels,  and  on  a  marble  tablet  is  engraved: 

LUDOVICO 

HASSIiE    ET    AD    RHENUM    MAGNO    DUCI 

PATRI   PATRIAE 

137 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  interior,  more  even  than  that  of  the 
church  at  Carlsruhe,  is  a  weak  imitation  of 
the  Pantheon  at  Rome. 

The  great  dome  is  upheld  by  twenty-eight 
enormous  Corinthian  columns,  but  the  walls 
are  bare  and  w^ithout  ornament  of  any  sort. 

The  only  accessory  with  any  pretence  at 
artistic  expression  is  the  altar.  It  is  either 
remarkably  fine,  or  else  it  looks  so  in  compari- 
son with  its  bare  surroundings. 

Wiesbaden 

A  conventional  account  of  Wiesbaden 
would  read  something  as  follows : 

"  Wiesbaden,  the  capital  of  the  Duchy  of 
Nassau,  is  about  an  hour's  drive  by  road  from 
Mayence  and  three  from  Frankfort.  It  lies 
in  a  valley,  encircled  by  low  hills,  behind 
which,  on  the  north  and  northwest,  rises  the 
range  of  the  Taunus  Mountains,  whose  dark 
foliage  forms  an  agreeable  contrast  to  the 
brighter  green  of  the  meadows  and  the  w^hite 
buildings  of  the  town.  Within  the  last  few 
years  several  new  streets  have  been  erected; 
the  Wilhelmstrasse,  fronting  the  promenades, 
would  bear  a  comparison  with  some  of  the 
finest  streets  in  Europe." 

138 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Such,  in  fact,  is  the  description  which  usu- 
ally opens  the  accounts  one  reads  in  the  books 
of  travel  of  a  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury ago. 

To-day  Wiesbaden,  as  a  "  watering-place," 
doubtless  retains  all  the  virtues  that  it  formerly 
possessed;  but  fashionable  invalids  have  de- 
serted Wiesbaden  for  Homburg. 

All  this  is  of  course  quite  apart  from  the 
consideration  of  great  churches;  but  great 
churches,  for  that  matter,  were  quite  apart 
from  the  considerations  of  most  of  the  visitors 
to  Wiesbaden. 

The  city  possesses,  however,  a  very  satis- 
factory modern  Catholic  church,  the  work  of 
the  architect  Hoffmann.  It  will  not  take  rank 
with  the  mediaeval  masterpieces  of  many  other 
places,  but  it  demonstrates,  as  has  only  seldom 
been  demonstrated,  that  it  is  possible  to  make 
a  very  satisfactory  church  building  of  to-day 
by  copying  pleasing  details  of  other  times. 

Were  it  not  that  it  is  built  in  the  red  sand- 
stone of  the  country,  this  fine  edifice  would  be 
even  more  effective. 

It  is  not  a  thoroughly  consistent  style  that 
one  sees.  There  is  Byzantine,  Romanesque, 
and  avowedly  Gothic  details  superimposed 
one  upon  another;    but  this  is  often  seen   in 

139 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tlie  Rhine 

the  masterpieces  of  other  times,  and,  so  long 
as  the  varieties  are  not  put  into  quarrelling 
relationship  with  each  other,  it  is  perhaps 
allowable. 

There  is  a  triangular  pediment  above  the 
grand  portal  which  is  certainly  most  singular, 
and  may  have  been  a  product  of  the  author's 
fancy  alone.  Nothing  exactly  similar  is  re- 
membered elsewhere.  In  the  main,  however, 
the  whole  structure  is  reminiscent  of  much 
that,  drawn  from  various  sources,  is  the  best 
of  its  kind. 

The  interior  is  divided  into  three  naves  by 
numerous  great  and  small  pillars  of  a  polyg- 
onal form,  the  capitals  only  bearing  any  traces 
of  modelling. 

The  high  altar  is  decorated  with  some  good 
sculptures,  and  there  are  a  series  of  paintings, 
which  might  be  modern,  or  might  be  ancient, 
so  far  as  their  unconvincing  merits  go. 

Of  the  attraction  of  the  waters  and  the 
pleasures  of  the  society  found  at  Wiesbaden 
during  the  season,  nothing  shall  have  place 
here,  save  to  remark  that  the  springs  were 
famous  even  in  the  times  of  the  Romans. 

There  is  a  "  Greek  chapel,"  built  in  1855, 
at  two  kilometres  from  Wiesbaden.  In  the 
style  of  the  sacred  edifices  of  Moscow,  this 

140 


7S  y(^<Waim\ 


G 


REEK   CHAPEL, 
JVIESBADEX 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

chapel  was  erected  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia 
and  by  the  Grand  Duke  Adolphe  of  Nassau 
to  serve  as  the  mausoleum  of  the  Duchess  Eliz- 
abeth of  Nassau,  a  Russian  princess. 

This  fine  memorial  was  also  the  work  of  the 
architect  Hoffmann,  and,  though  bizarre  and 
unbeautiful  enough  from  certain  points  of 
view,  it  is  a  highly  successful  transplanting  of 
an  exotic. 


141 


XIII 

HEIDELBERG  AND   MANNHEIM 
Heidelberg 

As  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Lower  Palat- 
inate, Heidelberg  early  came  into  great  prom- 
inence, though  many  of  the  details  of  its  early 
history  are  lost  in  obscurity.  The  Romans 
have  left  traces  of  their  passage,  but  the  his- 
tory of  the  early  years  of  Christianity  is  but 
vaguely  surmised. 

Conrad  of  Hohenstaufen,  brother  of  the 
red-bearded  Frederick,  came  here,  in  1148,  as 
the  first  Count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine.  The 
ruins  of  what  is  supposed  to  have  been  his  once 
famous  chateau  are  yet  to  be  seen  on  the  Geiss- 
berg. 

In  1228  Heidelberg  was  declared  the  cap- 
ital of  the  Palatinate  under  Otto  of  Wittels- 
bach,  and  became  the  residence  of  the  Elec- 
tors, who,  for  five  hundred  years,  inhabited 
that  other  and  more  popularly  famous  cha- 
teau, which  is  known  to  all  travellers  on  the 
Rhine  as  the  "  Castle  of   Heidelberg."     In 

142 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

1724,  they  chose  Mannheim  as  their  official 
residence. 

Few  cities  of  Europe  have  so  frequently 
undergone  such  horrors  of  civilized  warfare, 
if  warfare  ever  is  civilized,  as  has  Heidelberg, 
though  mostly  it  is  associated  in  the  popular 
mind  of  personally  conducted  tourists  as  a  city 
of  wine  and  beer  drinking  and  general  revelry 
and  mirth. 

The  city  has  been  five  times  bombarded, 
twice  reduced  to  ashes,  and  three  times  taken 
by  assault  and  pillaged. 

To-day,  it  has  recovered  from  all  these  dis- 
asters and  takes  its  place  as  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  smaller  commercial  centres  of 
the  Rhine  valley,  though  for  that  matter  Hei- 
delberg is  situated  some  little  distance  from 
the  river  itself. 

Of  Heidelberg's  population  of  perhaps 
twenty-five  thousand  souls,  nearly  one-third 
are  Catholics,  an  exceedingly  large  propor- 
tion for  a  German  town. 

St.  Peter's,  the  most  ancient  of  Heidelberg's 
churches,  contains  many  tombs  of  the  Electors. 
In  1693  Melac  and  his  soldiers,  after  having 
thrown  to  the  winds,  at  Speyer,  the  ashes  of 
the  emperors,  rummaged  about  here  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  and  tore  the  bones  of  the 

143 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

nobles  from  their  leaden  caskets,  throwing 
them  broadcast  in  the  streets.  A  Frenchman 
who  remarked  upon  this  sacrilege  forgot  that 
his  own  countrymen  did  the  same  at  St.  Denis's 
a  hundred  years  later. 

The  principal  church  edifice  of  the  city  is 
St.  Esprit's.  Its  architecture  belongs  to  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  though  it 
cannot  be  described  as  belonging  to  any  precise 
style.  Its  interior  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
which,  curiously  enough,  were  devoted  to  two 
distinct  sects,  the  choir  being  consecrated  to 
the  Catholics  and  the  nave  being  occupied  by 
the  Protestants.  Jerome  of  Prague,  a  disciple 
of  John  Huss,  harangued  his  believers  in  this 
church  in  times  contemporary  with  that  of 
Huss  himself. 

In  the  midst  of  the  market-place  is  a  statue 
of  the  Virgin,  and  facing  the  north  side  of  the 
church  is  a  house  dating  from  1492,  known 
to-day  by  the  sign  of  the  Chevalier  zum  Rit- 
ter.  Among  the  numerous  ornaments  of  this 
fine  mediaeval  dwelling-house  is  to  be  noted 
the  following  inscription: 

''  Si  J ehova  non  edificet  domum,  frustra 
laborant  cedificantes  earn  V.  S.  CXXVII.  — 
Soli  Deo  gloria  et  perstat  invicta  Venus/' 

The  University  of  Heidelberg,  as  presum- 
144 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ably  all  readers  of  guide-books  know,  is  the 
most  ancient  and  the  most  celebrated  in  Ger- 
many. It  was  founded  by  Robert  I.  in  1386. 
Luther  gave  his  dissertation  here  in  15 15, 
hence,  so  far  as  its  connection  with  religious 
matters  goes,  it  is  of  great  importance. 

Its  library  was  one  of  the  most  precious  in 
Europe,  but  Tilly,  who  headed  the  Bavarians 
who  entered  Heidelberg  in  1622,  presented  the 
greater  part  of  it  to  Pope  Leo  XL  The  val- 
uable books  and  manuscripts  remained  in  the 
Vatican,  where  they  formed  the  Palatine  Li- 
brary, until  the  taking  of  Rome  by  the 
French  in  1795.  The  rarest  of  the  works 
were  sent  to  Paris,  whence  they  were  returned 
to  Heidelberg  in  1815. 

The  theatrical-looking  chateau  of  Heidel- 
berg, which  dominates  the  city  and  all  the 
river  valley  round  about,  was  built,  in  its  most 
ancient  parts,  by  the  Elector  Robert  I.,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  though,  for  the  most  part, 
the  walls  that  one  gazes  upon  to-day  are  much 
more  modern,  having  been  erected  by  Fred- 
erick IV.  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

In  1622  the  castle  was  ravaged  by  the  Span- 
iards, and,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  of 
France,  it  was  bombarded  by  Turenne  and  by 
Melac.  Rebuilt  with  still  greater  magnifi- 
es 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

cence,  it  was  all  but  destroyed  by  lightning  in 
1764,  since  which  time  it  has  been  practically 
abandoned  and  has  become  one  of  the  most 
romantically  picturesque  ruins  in  Europe. 

That  portion  of  the  edifice  built  by  Otto 
Henry,  who  reigned  1556-59,  is  quite  the 
most  beautiful  of  all  the  various  parts.  It  is 
known  as  the  Hall  of  the  Knights,  and  its  plan 
and  ornamentation  is  supposedly  that  of  Mi- 
chael Angelo. 

The  famous  Heidelberg  Tun  is  in  one  of 
the  great  vaulted  chambers  of  the  castle.  The 
first  of  these  utilitarian  curiosities  —  Rhine 
wine  matures  best  in  large  bodies  —  was  built 
in  1535,  and  held  158,800  bottles.  This  tun 
was  destroyed  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and 
was  replaced  by  a  second  which  held  245,176 
bottles,  built  by  one  Meyer,  the  cooper  of  the 
court.  This  tun  was  repaired  in  1728  and 
exists  to-day,  but  its  grandeur  is  eclipsed  by 
another  made  in  175 1,  during  the  electorate 
of  Charles  Theodore,  which  has  a  capacity  of 
284,000  bottles. 

Mannheim 

The  modern-looking  city  of  Mannheim  has 
little  ecclesiastical  treasure  to  interest  the  stu- 
dent, although  it  is  a  wealthy  and  important 
centre. 

146 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Its  origin  is  very  remote,  and  legend  has 
it  that  it  was  the  birthplace  of  a  fabulous  king 
of  the  Teutons  called  Mannus.  Others  have 
evolved  its  present  nomenclature  from  a  word 
taken  from  Norse  mythology  meaning  the 
"  dwelling-place  of  men."  Either  seems  prob- 
able enough,  and  the  reader  must  take  his 
choice. 

According  to  most  authorities,  the  city  first 
came  into  being  in  765,  but  remained  an  insig- 
nificant hamlet  up  to  the  time  of  the  Elector 
Frederick  IV.,  who,  in  1606,  surrounded  it 
with  a  city  wall  as  a  protection  to  the  perse- 
cuted Protestants  of  the  place.  He  also  built 
the  great  chateau,  the  precursor  of  the  present 
vast  edifice,  w^hich  contains,  the  guide-books 
say,  fifteen  hundred  windows  and  five  hundred 
rooms;  as  if  that  were  its  chief  claim  on  one's 
attention. 

The  present  structure  was  the  former  resi- 
dence of  the  Electors  of  the  Palatinate,  and, 
though  but  a  couple  of  hundred  years  old,  is 
nevertheless  an  imposing  and  interesting  edi- 
fice in  more  ways  than  one.  To-day  it  is  given 
over  to  collections  of  various  sorts,  Roman 
antiquities,  old  prints,  and  a  gallery  of  paint- 
ings which  contains  some  good  work  of  Ten- 
iers  and  Wouvermans. 

H7 


Cathedrals  and  Clmrclies  of  the  Rhine 

The  Market  and  the  Rathaus  ^re  the  chief 
architectural  attractions  of  this  beautifully 
laid-out  city,  and  its  poor,  mean  little  church 
of  the  Catholic  religion  is  by  no  means  an 
edifying  expression  of  architectural  art. 

It  is  practically  nothing  more  than  what 
the  French  would  call  a  pavilion,  and  is  known 
as  the  Unterpfaar,  the  lower  parish. 

On  the  exterior  wall  one  sees  the  pagan  idea 
of  caryatides  carried  out  with  Christian  sym- 
bols, two  figures  of  angels.  There  is  also  a 
mediocre  statue  representing  "  Faith,"  which 
it  is  difficult  to  accept  as  good  art. 

In  the  interior  the  short,  narrow  nave  is 
separated  from  its  aisles  by  four  columns  and 
two  pillars  on  each  side.  The  effect  is  some- 
what that  of  a  swimming  bath.  It  is  decidedly 
unchurchly. 

There  are  a  series  of  uninteresting  tombs, 
and  there  is  a  high  altar,  gaudily  rich  with 
trappings,  which  would  be  a  disgrace  to  a 
stage-carpenter. 

There  is  little  or  no  religious  history  con- 
nected with  the  city;  but  such  devotional 
spirit  as  existed,  and  does  exist  to-day,  ought 
to  have  left  a  better  Christian  memorial  than 
that  of  the  Unterpfaar. 


148 


XIV 

WORMS 

This  most  ancient  city  was  the  Vormatia 
of  the  Romans.  It  was  devastated  by  Attila, 
and  reestablished  by  Clovis.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  seventh  century  Brunhilda  founded  the 
bishopric,  and  Dagobert  established  his  royal 
residence  here  in  the  years  following.  After- 
ward Charlemagne  himself  made  it  a  resting- 
place  many  times,  and  held  many  Parliaments 
here. 

In  the  tenth  century  Worms  became  a  free 
city  of  the  Empire,  and  in  1122  a  Concordat 
was  entered  into  betsveen  Pope  Calixtus  11. 
and  the  emperor,  Henry  V.,  concerning  the 
ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  city. 

It  was  in  the  cathedral  of  Worms  that  the 
famous  Diet  of  1521  was  held,  when  Charles 
V.  declared  Luther  a  heretic,  and  banished 
him  from  the  Empire,  for  which  indignity 
Luther  is  said  to  have  remarked:  "  There  are 
at  Worms  as  many  devils  as  there  are  tiles  on 
the  roof  of  its  cathedral." 

149 


Cathedrals  and  Clmrches  of  the  Rhine 

The  city  suffered  much  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  and  in  1689  was  reduced  to  ashes  by  the 
armies  of  Louis  XIV. 

The  cathedral  of  Worms  was  begun  in  996 
by  Bishop  Bouchard,  and  completed  twenty 
years  later  by  the  Emperor  Henry  II.  With 
its  four  fine  towers  and  its  two  noble  domes 
or  cupolas,  it  ranks  as  one  of  the  really  great 
monuments  of  Christianity  in  Germany. 

To-day,  with  its  later  additions,  it  is  purely 
Romanesque,  though  built  entirely  after  1185, 
when  Gothic  was  already  making  great  strides 
elsewhere.  Even  here  there  is  a  decided  ogi- 
val  development  to  be  noted  in  the  vaulting 
of  the  nave. 

Like  the  cathedrals  at  Mayence  and  Bonn, 
that  at  Worms  offers  the  peculiarity  of  a 
double  apside.  The  eastern  termination  is 
demi-round  in  the  interior  and  square  outside, 
while  the  westerly  apse  is  polygonal  both  in- 
side and  out. 

The  cathedral  was  the  only  structure  of  note 
left  standing  in  the  city  after  the  memorable 
siege  of  1689. 

The  outline  of  this  cathedral  is  most  in- 
volved, with  its  high,  narrow  transepts,  its  X\\o 
choirs  crowned  with  cupolas  and  flanked  with 
four  lance-like  towers.     It  is  a  suggestion,  in 

150 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

a  small  way,  of  the  more  grandiose  cathedral 
at  Mayence,  but  it  is  by  no  means  so  pictur- 
esquely situated. 

The  portal  of  the  fagade  shows  some  fine 
sculptures  of  the  fourteenth  century.  One 
figure  has  given  rise  to  much  comment  on  the 
part  of  antiquaries  and  archeologists  who  have 
viewed  it.  It  is  a  female  figure  mounted  on 
a  strange  quadruped  of  most  singular  form, 
and  like  no  manner  of  beast  that  ever  walked 
the  earth  in  the  flesh. 

It  has  been  thought  to  be  a  symbolical  allu- 
sion to  the  Queen  Brunhilda,  and  again  of  the 
Church  triumphant.  It  may  be  the  former, 
but  hardly  the  latter,  at  least  such  symbolism 
is  not  to  be  seen  elsewhere. 

The  interior  is  of  no  special  architectural 
value,  if  we  except  the  contrast  of  the  ogival 
vaulting  with  the  Romanesque  treatment 
otherwise  to  be  observed. 

There  are  numerous  tombs  and  monuments, 
the  chief  being  of  three  princesses  of  Bur- 
gundy who  are  buried  here. 

The  church  of  St.  Martin  dates  from  the 
r^velfth  century,  and  Notre  Dame  from  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  They  are 
in  every  way  quite  as  interesting  as  the  cathe- 
dral, though  their  walls  and  vaults  have  been 

151 


Cat Jied nils  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

built  up  anew  since  the  sacking  of  the  city 
by  the  French  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  synagogue,  recently  restored,  dates,  as 
to  its  foundation,  from  the  eleventh  century, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  all  Germany. 

According  to  tradition,  a  Jewish  colony  was 
established  at  Worms  550  years  B.  C.  This 
may  or  may  not  be  well  authenticated,  —  the 
writer  does  not  know,  —  but  no  city  in  Ger- 
many in  the  middle  ages  had  a  colony  of  Jews 
more  numerous,  more  venerated,  or  more  an- 
cient. 

The  Jews  of  Germany  had  three  grand 
Rabbis,  one  at  Prague,  one  at  Frankfort,  and 
the  other  at  Worms.  By  the  privilege  of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand,  the  Rabbi  of  Worms  had 
precedence  over  the  two  others.  They  be- 
lieved, according  to  a  traditionary  legend,  that 
Worms  was  a  part  of  the  promised  land,  and 
it  was  said  that  the  Jews'  cemetery  at  Worms 
was  made  of  soil  broug^ht  from  Jerusalem. 

The  wine-growers  of  Worms  have  given 
the  name  Liebfraumilch  to  the  wine  of  the 
neighbourhood,  particularly  that  which  is 
gathered  on  the  hillside  gardens  of  the 
Church  of  Our  Lady,  and  within  the  grounds 
of  the  ancient  convent. 

Near  Worms  is  the  ancient  abbey  of  Lorsch, 
152 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

known  in  the  middle  ages  as  Lauresham  and 
Lorse.  The  abbey  was  founded  and  dedicated 
(767  -  74)  in  the  presence  of  Charlemagne,  his 
wife  Hildegarde,  and  his  two  sons,  Charles 
and  Pepin. 

The  churches  of  Treves,  of  Metz,  and  of 
Cologne  have,  as  we  know,  existed  from  very 
early  times,  and  Maternus,  an  early  Bishop 
of  Cologne,  is  said  to  have  been  summoned  to 
Rome  in  313  to  give  his  aid  in  deciding  the 
Donatist  controversy. 

The  oldest  of  all  these  Rhenish  church 
foundations  is  thought  to  be  that  of  Lorsch, 
whose  bishop,  Maximilian,  died  a  martyr's 
death  in  the  year  285. 

The  abbey  became  very  wealthy,  as  was  but 
natural  under  the  patronage  of  such  celebrated 
benefactors;  but  it  fell  a  prey  to  the  flames 
in  1090,  and,  in  spite  of  immediate  restoration, 
Lorsch  never  recovered  its  ancient  splen- 
dour. 

In  1232  It  was  incorporated  with  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Mayence,  and  the  former  impe- 
rial abbey  became  first,  a  priory  of  the  monks 
of  the  order  of  Citeaux,  and  later  of  the  Pre- 
monstentrationists. 

The  fine  old  tsvelfth-century  church,  rebuilt 
from  that  of  1 100,  has  to-day  become  a  grange, 

153 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

though  only  the  ancient  choir  can  be  really 
said  to  exist. 

The  valuable  library  of  Lorsch  was  fortu- 
nately saved  at  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and, 
when  the  church  was  devastated  by  the  Span- 
iards, was  transported  to  Heidelberg. 

The  monastery  at  Lorsch  is  important  as 
marking  the  transition  between  the  Roman- 
esque and  Gothic  in  a  manner  not  usually  asso- 
ciated with  the  Rhine.  One  observes  it  nota- 
bly in  the  porch,  where  the  lower  range  of 
round-headed  arcades  is  surmounted  by  a  col- 
onnade of  sloping  angular  arches,  which  are 
certainly  not  Romanesque  or  classical,  though, 
truth  to  tell,  they  resemble  the  clearly  defined 
Gothic  of  France  but  little. 

To-day  the  church  of  Lorsch  presents  no 
remarkable  architectural  features,  and  is  sim- 
ply an  attractive  and  picturesquely  environed 
building  containing  a  few  monuments  w^orthy 
of  note. 

In  olden  times  the  town  was  protected  by 
a  strong  chateau,  constructed  in  1348  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Mayence,  but  no  traces  of  it 
are  left  to-day. 


154 


XV 

FRANKFORT 

There  is  a  legend  which  connects  the 
foundation  of  Frankfort  with  a  saying  of 
Charlemagne's  when  he  was  warring  against 
the  Saxons. 

Having  fortunately  escaped  an  attack  from 
a  superior  force,  by  crossing  the  river  Main 
during  a  thick  fog,  Charlemagne  thrust  his 
lance  into  the  sand  of  the  river-bank  and  ex- 
claimed: "  It  is  here  that  I  will  erect  a  city, 
in  memory  of  this  fortunate  event,  and  it  shall 
be  known  as  '  Franken  Furth/  —  'the  Ford 
of  the  Franks.'  " 

The  city  owes  its  ancient  celebrity,  in  part, 
to  the  crowning  of  the  emperors,  which,  be- 
fore Frankfort  became  an  opulent  commercial 
city,  always  took  place  here  according  to  the 
laws  promulgated  in  1152  and  1356.  Later 
the  ceremony  was  transferred  to  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle. 

The  first  historical  mention  of  the  city  was 
155 


Catlicdrals  and  CJmrches  of  the  Rhine 

in  794,  when  Charlemagne  convoked  a  Diet 
and  a  council  of  the  Church. 

Frankfort  sufifered  greatly  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  in  the  War  of  Succession, 
and  in  the  Revolution  in  1793.  Napoleon 
made  the  city  a  grand  duchy  in  favour  of  the 
Prince-Primate  Charles  of  Dalberg. 

Of  the  ancient  gateways  of  the  city,  but  one 
remains  to-day,  that  of  Eschenheim,  a  fine 
monument  of  characteristically  German  fea- 
tures of  the  middle  ages.  It  dates  from  the 
fourteenth  century. 

One  of  the  principal  attractions  of  Frank- 
fort for  strangers  has  ever  been  the  Juden 
Gasse,  —  the  street  of  the  Jews.  It  dates  from 
1662.  As  one  enters,  on  the  left,  at  No. 
148,  is  the  maison  paternelle  of  the  celebrated 
Rothschilds, 

The  cathedral  at  Frankfort  is  consecrated 
to  St.  Bartholomew.  It  w^as  begun  under  the 
Carlovingians  and  was  only  completed  in  the 
fourteenth  century. 

At  the  extreme  western  end  is  a  colossal 
tower  which  ranks  as  one  of  the  latest  and 
most  notable  pure  Gothic  w^orks  in  Germany 
(141 5  -  1509).  Its  architect  was  John  of  Et- 
tingen,  and  it  rises  to  a  height  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-three  feet. 

156 


\iif»^V"-^ 


■^'■■'•''■■■''';i^(:^%'A%^f{^^:i~i-'s!^^ 


.^ itf!*tk.^'A!i&mu.'«  '! 


RANKFORT    CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhme 

The  fagade  of  the  cathedral  is  entirely  lack- 
ing in  a  decorative  sense,  and  the  lateral  portal, 
on  the  south,  is  much  encumbered  by  sur- 
rounding structures,  though  one  sees  peeping 
out  here  and  there  evidences  of  a  series  of 
finely  sculptured  figures. 

Above  the  entrance  to  the  cloister  is  an 
equestrian  statue  of  St.  Bartholomew,  a  mas- 
ter-work of  sixteenth-century  German  sculp- 
ture. The  skull  of  the  apostle  is  preserved 
in  the  church  proper. 

The  general  plan  of  the  church  is  that  of 
a  Greek  cross,  but  the  termination  which  holds 
the  choir  is  of  much  narrower  dimensions  than 
the  other  three  arms. 

The  grand  nave  offers  nothing  of  remark, 
but  the  side  aisle  to  the  right  contains  a  fine 
"  Ecce  Homo  "  in  bas-relief,  placed  upon  the 
tomb  of  the  Consul  Hirde,  who  died  in  1518. 
Unfortunately  the  heads  of  many  of  the  fig- 
ures, including  that  of  the  Christ,  are  badly 
scarred  and  broken. 

In  the  right  transept  are  a  series  of  very 
ancient  German  paintings  and  a  number  of 
escutcheons,  coloured  and  in  high  relief,  com- 
memorating benefactors  of  the  church. 

The  walls  in  the  choir  are  covered  with  an- 
cient frescoes  of  the  frankly  German  school. 

157 


Cat  lied  mis  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

They  undoubtedly  date  back  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  at  least. 

At  the  right  of  the  choir  is  the  tomb  of  the 
Emperor  Gunther  of  Schwarzburg,  who  died 
here  in  1349. 

Above  the  high  altar  is  a  fine  tabernacle,  — 
a  feature  frequently  seen  in  German  churches, 
—  of  silver-gilt.  To  the  left  is  an  ancient  iron 
grille  of  remarkable  workmanship. 

At  the  head  of  the  left  aisle  of  the  nave  is 
a  chapel  containing  a  "  Virgin  at  the  Tomb," 
a  coloured  sculpture  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
surmounted  by  a  very  ornate  Gothic  balda- 
quin. 

In  the  left  transept  is  the  tomb  of  a  knight 
of  Sachsenhausen  bearing  the  date  of  1371. 
Here,  too,  is  a  somewhat  dismantled  and  frag- 
mentary astronomical  clock  of  the  species  best 
seen  at  Strasburg. 

The  Protestant  church  of  St.  Nicholas  is 
a  fine  ogival  edifice,  which  in  more  recent 
times  was  profaned  by  commercial  uses.  It 
has  since  been  restored  and  its  red  sandstone 
fabric  is  surmounted  by  a  fine  spire. 

The  interior  shows  a  remarkably  fine  ogival 
choir  as  its  chief  feature,  an  organ-buffet  car- 
ried out  in  the  same  style,  which  is  most  un- 
usual, and  a  charming  wooden  staircase  with 

158 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

an  iron  railing  leading  to  a  tribune  at  the 
crossing.  All  of  the  accessories  are  modern, 
but  the  effect  is  unquestionably  good. 

The  church  of  St.  Leonard  dates  from  the 
thirteenth  century  and  possesses  as  its  chief 
exterior  features  two  rather  diminutive  spires. 
The  Emperor  Frederick  II.  ceded  the  site  ti- 
the city,  for  the  erection  of  a  church,  at  the 
above  mentioned  period. 

The  church  of  St.  Catherine  is  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and,  like  most  religious  erec- 
tions of  its  age,  is  in  no  way  remarkable.  The 
exterior,  however,  shows  a  rather  pleasing 
square  tower,  which  is  surmounted  by  an  oc- 
tagonal campanile.  The  interior  has  some 
fine  modern  paintings,  well  painted  and 
equally  well  displayed. 

The  church  of  St.  Paul  was  formerly  a 
Carmelite  foundation.  It  is  strictly  modern, 
and  was  only  completed  in  1833.  Its  form  is 
rather  more  pagan  than  Christian,  being  sim- 
ply a  great  oval,  one  hundred  and  thirty  odd 
feet  in  length  by  one  hundred  and  eight  in 
width.  The  interior  is  surrounded  by  a  fine 
Ionic  colonnade. 

In  1848  St.  Paul's  was  appropriated  to  the 
sessions  of  the  German  parliament,  to  which 
purpose  the  structure  was  well  suited. 

159 


CatJiednils  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  Liebfrauenkirche  has  a  fine  "  Adora- 
tion "  sculptured  above  its  principal  portal. 
It  is  a  good  example  of  German  sculpture 
in  stone.  Within  the  walls  is  a  painting  attrib- 
uted to  Martin  Schoen  which  merits  consid- 
eration. 


1 60 


XVI 

MAYENCE 

Mayence  has  been  variously  called  the  city 
of  Gutenberg,  and  of  the  Minnesingers.  The 
Romans  in  Augustus's  time  had  already  forti- 
fied it  and  given  it  the  name  of  Magontiacum. 

Near  Mayence  is  the  cenotaph  of  Drusus; 
where  his  ashes  were  interred  after  the  funeral 
oration  by  Augustus,  who  came  expressly  from 
Rome  into  Gaul  for  the  purpose. 

Mayence  as  a  Roman  colony  was  a  military 
post  of  great  importance,  and  the  key  to  the 
fertile  provinces  watered  by  the  Rhine. 

An  episcopal  seat  was  established  here  in 
the  third  century,  but  Christianity  had  a  hard 
struggle  against  wars  and  internal  disorders 
of  many  kinds. 

Many  times  the  city  has  been  devastated  and 
rebuilt.  In  718  Bishop  Sigibert  surrounded 
the  city  by  a  series  of  walls,  and  between  975 
and  loi  I  Archbishop  Willigis  built  the  cathe- 
dral and  the  church  of  St.  Stephen,  at  which 

161 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

time  the  real  Christianizing  of  Mayence  may 
be  said  to  have  begun. 

The  venerable  old  cathedral  has  many  times 
been  battered  and  bruised,  and  fire  and  bom- 
bardment have  reduced  its  original  form  into 
somewhat  of  a  hybrid  thing,  but  it  remains 
to-day  the  most  stupendously  imposing  and 
bizarre  cathedral  of  all  the  Rhine  valley. 


CfNOTAPH 

V  DfUliVi  at 

MAYcnce, 


In  general  its  architecture  is  decidedly  not 
good,  but  it  is  interesting,  and  therein  lies  the 
chief  charm  of  a  great  church. 

During  the  siege  of  the  French  the  cathedral 
at  Mayence,  in  1793,  again  took  fire,  and  the 
western  end  of  the  roof  of  the  choir,  the  nave, 
and  the  transept  all  succumbed. 

For  ten  years  it  remained  in  this  state,  until 
the  order  for  restoration  came  from  the  om- 

162 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

nific  Bonaparte,  then  first  consul.  In  1804 
the  edifice  was  consecrated  anew. 

In  the  year  636  there  was  held  at  Mayence 
an  assembly  of  the  bishops  of  the  Prankish 
kingdom  convoked  by  Dagobert,  then  king. 

Among  the  bishops  of  Mayence  none  had 
a  reputation  so  popular  as  that  of  St.  Boniface, 
who  had  been  sent  out  by  Pope  Gregory  III. 
as  a  missioner  to  the  Rhine  country. 

Boniface  had  given  Pepin-le-Bref  the  sac- 
rament at  Soissons  in  752,  upon  the  fall  of 
the  Merovingian  dynasty,  and  in  return  King 
Pepin  gave  the  bishopric  of  Mayence  to  St. 
Boniface. 

In  813  a  numerous  council  met  here,  at  the 
orders  of  Charlemagne,  under  the  presidency 
of  Hildebold,  Archbishop  of  Cologne  and 
chaplain  of  the  holy  palace  at  Rome. 

In  the  tenth  century  the  church  at  Mayence 
did  not  fall  to  the  sad  state  that  it  did  else- 
where. Ecclesiastical  writers  of  France  have 
always  referred  to  this  period  as  le  siecle  de 
plomh,  but  at  Mayence  it  still  steadily  ap- 
proached the  golden  age. 

Mayence  was  still  distinguished  by  the  zeal 
of  its  archbishops,  whose  good  influences  were 
far  reaching. 

Under  the  episcopate  of  St.  Boniface  and 
163 


Cat/iednils  mid  Chttrches  of  the  Rhine 

his  immediate  successors  the  cathedral  of  Ma- 
yence  was  probably  a  wooden  structure,  as 
were  many  of  the  earlier  churches  of  the  evan- 
gelizing period  in  Germany  and  Gaul. 

The  work  on  the  mediaeval  cathedral  was 
completed  by  1037,  under  Archbishop  Bar- 
don,  and  its  consecration  took  place  in  pres- 
ence of  the  Emperor  Conrad  II. 

Twelve  years  after  this  ceremony.  Pope  Leo 
IX.  came  to  Mayence  and  held  a  famous  coun- 
cil, at  which  the  emperor  was  present,  accom- 
panied by  the  principal  nobles  of  the  empire. 

The  cathedral  fell  a  prey  to  the  flames  in 
1087,  as  well  as  three  other  neighbouring 
churches,  say  the  older  chronicles,  and  the 
ancient  structure  disappeared  almost  entirely, 
so  far  as  its  original  outline  was  concerned. 

Archbishop  Conrad  of  Wittelsbach  restored 
the  nave  inside  of  three  years,  and  the  monu- 
ment again  took  on  some  of  its  ancient  magnif- 
icence. In  1 198  Emperor  Philip  of  Suabia, 
son  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  was  solemnly 
crowned  in  this  cathedral  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Tarentaise,  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  be- 
ing at  that  time  in  the  Holy  Land. 

The  twelfth-century  work  doubtless  was 
erected  on  the  foundations  of  Archbishop 
Bardon's  structure. 

164 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  restoration  of  the  transept  and  the  west- 
ern choir  followed,  and  the  work  went  on  more 
or  less  intermittently  until  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  when  the  fabric  ap- 
proached somewhat  the  appearance  that  it 
has  to-day. 

The  completed  structure  was  consecrated  in 
1239,  and,  save  the  chapels  of  the  late  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  body  of 
the  edifice  has  not  greatly  changed  since  that 
time. 

During  the  Thirty  Years'  War  it  became 
practically  a  ruin,  however,  though  its  later 
rebuilding  was  on  the  original  lines. 

In  1793  the  revolution  which  sprang  up  in 
France  forced  its  way  to  the  Rhine,  and,  when 
Mayence  was  besieged,  the  roof  of  the  cathe- 
dral caught  fire  and  the  church  itself  was  pil- 
laged and  profaned. 

For  a  long  time  the  old  cathedral  remained 
abandoned,  as  after  an  invasion  of  barbarians, 
which  is  about  what  the  revolutionists  proved 
themselves  to  be.  In  1803  Napoleon  saw  fit 
to  order  it  to  be  restored,  and  in  the  following 
year  it  was  returned  to  its  adherents. 

The  ancient  metropolis,  however,  lost  the 
distinction  which  had  been  given  to  it  in 
Roman  times,  and  the  glory  first  brought  upon 

165 


Cathedrals  and  ChitrcJies  of  the  Rhine 

it  by  St.  Boniface  lapsed  when  the  arch-epis- 
copal see  was  suppressed.  Mayence  is  now 
merely  a  bishopric,  a  suffragan  of  Cologne. 

In  its  general  plan  the  cathedral  at  Mayence 
follows  the  outlines  of  a  Latin  cross,  though 
its  length  is  scarcely  more  than  double  its 
width. 

It  is  most  singular  in  outline  and  has  two 
choirs,  one  at  either  end,  as  is  a  frequent  Ger- 
man custom,  and  the  sky-line  is  curiously 
broken  by  the  six  towers  which  pierce  the  air, 
no  two  at  the  same  elevation. 

There  are  three  portals  which  give  entrance 
from  various  directions.  There  is  yet  a  fourth 
entrance  from  the  market-place,  which  takes 
one  through  a  sort  of  cellar  w^hich  is  not  in 
the  least  churchly  and  is  decidedly  unpleasant. 

The  principal  nave  is  supported  by  nine 
squared  pillars,  which  are  hardly  beautiful 
in  themselves,  but  w^hich  are  doubtless  neces- 
sary because  of  the  great  weight  they  have  to 
bear. 

In  the  Gothic  choir  is  a  heavy  baldaquin 
in  marble,  bearing  figures  of  the  twelve  apos- 
tles. The  high  altar  is  directly  beneath  the 
cupola,  or  lantern,  of  the  principal  tower.  It 
is  quite  isolated,  and  has  neither  flanking  col- 
umns  nor   a  baldaquin.     On   feast-days   it  is 

1 66 


M 


AYENCE    CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

brilliantly  set  forth  with  candelabra  in  a  fash- 
ion which  would  be  theatrical,  if  it  were  not 
churchly. 

Behind  this  altar  is  the  space  reserved  for 
the  clergy,  a  somewhat  unusual  arrangement, 
but  not  a  unique  one.  At  the  extreme  end  is 
the  bishop's  throne. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  interior  con- 
structive elements  would  seem  to  place  the 
work  as  a  whole  well  within  the  thirteenth 
century,  though  the  extreme  easterly  portion 
is  more  ancient  still. 

There  is  very  little  of  pure  Gothic  to  be 
noted.  Mostly  the  fabric  is  a  reproduction 
of  the  Lombard  style,  though  much  undeni- 
ably Gothic  ornament  is  used.  The  bays  of 
the  nave  are  singularly  narrow  and  of  great 
height,  almost  the  reverse  of  the  pure  Italian 
manner  of  building  which  elsewhere  made  it- 
self strongly  felt  along  the  Rhine.  The  height 
of  these  bays  is  more  than  two  and  a  half  times 
the  width.  The  bays  of  German  churches, 
in  general,  have  a  much  greater  length  than 
those  of  Italy,  and  herein  is  a  marked  differ- 
ence between  the  Italian  and  German  styles  in 
spite  of  other  resemblances. 

There  are  in  the  cathedral  numerous  paint- 
ings  of   questionable   artistic   worth    and    an 

167 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

abundance  of  coloured  glass,  which  is  con- 
demned as  comparatively  modern  and  of  no 
especial  interest. 

The  altar  of  St.  Martin,  with  statues  of 
Sts.  Martin  and  Boniface,  is  near  the  baptis- 
tery. There  are  eight  lateral  chapels,  out  of 
fifteen  in  all,  which  are  bare  and  without 
altars,  showing  a  poverty  —  whatever  may 
have  been  the  cause  —  which  is  deplorable. 

In  the  Bassenheimi  chapel  is  a  remarkable 
marble  group  taken  from  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  a  Gothic  edifice  destroyed  during  the 
siege  of  1793. 

There  are  numerous  and  beautiful  funeral 
monuments  scattered  about  the  church,  the 
most  celebrated  being  that  which  surmounts 
the  tomb  of  Frastrada,  the  third  wife  of 
Charlemagne,  who  died  in  794,  and  was  orig- 
inally interred  in  the  church  of  St.  Alban. 
The  remains  were  removed  to  the  cathedral 
when  the  former  church  was  burned  in  1552. 

On  the  tomb  of  Frastrada  one  may  read  the 
following  eighth-century  inscription: 

*'  Frastradana^  pia  Caroli  conjux  vocitatOy 
Christo  dilecta^  jacet  hoc  sub  marmore  tecta^ 
Anno  septingentesimo  nonagesimo  quarto^ 
^4em  numerutn  metro  claudere  musa  negat 
168 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Rex  pie^  quern  gessit  Virgo ^  licet  hie  cinerescit, 
Spiritus  hoeres  sit  patriae  quce  tristia  nescit." 


There  are  also  the  tombs  of  thirty-two  arch- 
bishops, —  a  veritable  valhalla  of  churchly 
fame.  Mostly  these  tombs  are  ordinary 
enough,  those  of  Archbishop  Berthould  of 
Henneberg  and  of  the  doyen  of  the  chapter 
being  alone  remarkable. 

The  chapel  of  St.  Gothard,  a  dependency 
of  the  cathedral,  was  built  by  Archbishop 
Adelbert  I.  in  1135-36. 

The  ancient  cloister  at  Mayence  dates  from 
the  mid-thirteenth  century.  Archbishop  Sieg- 
fried was  responsible  for  the  work  which  was 
consecrated  in  the  year  1243  in  the  presence 
of  the  Emperor  Conrad,  on  the  occasion  of  a 
synod  which  was  being  held  at  Mayence  at 
that  time.  The  cloister,  as  it  exists  to-day,  is 
made  up  in  part  of  this  ancient  work  and  in 
part  of  a  more  modern  construction,  this  latter 
being  the  portion  which  adjoins  the  church 
proper. 

The  chapter-house  was  built  at  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century  or  at  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth.  It  is  a  square  apartment  covered 
with  an  ogival  vaulting  which  springs  from 
a  range  of  pillars  with  delicately  sculptured 

169 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

foliaged  capitals.  It  is  decidedly  the  archi- 
tectaral  gem  of  this  composite  edifice. 

To  the  north  of  the  cathedral,  in  the  Speide- 
Markt,  is  a  remarkably  fine  fountain,  restored, 
or  perhaps  rebuilt,  in  the  sixteenth  century  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Mayence.  A  baldaquin 
supported  by  three  pillars  rises  above  a  well 
or  spring,  and  on  a  stone  slab  one  reads  the 
following  inscription  in  letters  of  gold: 

"  Divo  Karolo  V  Cesare  semp  Angus,  post 
victoria  gallicam  rege  ipso  ad  Ticinum  supe- 
rato  ac  capto  triumphante,  fatalique  rusticoru 
per  Gerntfiia  (sic)  cospiratione  prostrata,  Al- 
ber.  card,  et  archiep.  Mog.  fonte  banc  vetus- 
tate  dilapsa  ad  civiu  suorum  posteritatisque 
usum  restitui  curavit  anno  MDXXVI." 

The  Meistersingers  of  Mayence  owed  their 
origin  to  Henry  Misnie,  who,  according  to 
some  authorities,  was  a  canon  of  the  Church, 
and,  according  to  others,  a  doctor  of  theology. 
He  was  devoted,  at  any  rate,  to  poetry,  and 
was,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  founder  of  the 
school  of  the  Master-singers. 

He  dedicated  a  great  part  of  his  songs  to  the 
Virgin,  his  ideal  of  all  that  was  pious  and 
good.  Later  he  w^idened  the  range  of  his  dedi- 
cations to  include  all  of  the  female  sex,  and 
beautiful  women  in  particular.     He  is  known 

170 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rliine 

in  the  history  of  German  poetry  under  the 
name  of  Henry  von  Frauenlob. 

His  death  caused  a  universal  sorrow  among 
the  fair  sex  of  Mayence,  who  gave  his  funeral 
such  honours  as  were  never  before  known. 

The  majority  of  the  great  procession  which 
conducted  his  remains  to  the  tomb,  which 
had  been  prepared  in  the  cathedral,  were 
women,  "  eight  of  the  most  beautiful  bear- 
ing a  crown  of  roses,  lilies,  and  myrtle." 
This  is  a  pretty  enough  sentiment,  but  it  seems 
quite  inexplicable  to-day.  History  records 
that  the  master-singer's  favourite  drink  was 
the  noble  wine  of  the  Rhingau,  and  it  is  com- 
monly supposed  to  have  inspired  many  of  his 
beautiful  songs. 

Legend  steps  in  and  says  that  "  the  naves  of 
the  cathedral  were  inundated  by  the  libations 
which  went  on  at  this  funeral  ceremony." 

A  modern  white  marble  monument,  put  into 
place  in  1842,  and  replacing  one  that  had  pre- 
viously disappeared,  stands  as  a  memorial  to 
the  sweet  singer  of  the  praises  of  women. 


171 


XVII 

BACHARACH,   BINGEN,  AND  RUDESHEIM 

Bacharach  is  famous  for  its  legends  and 
its  wine.  With  the  former  is  associated  the 
ruins  of  St.  Werner's  Church,  a  fragment  of 
exquisite  flamboyant  Gothic,  though  built  of 
what  looks  like  a  red  sandstone.  The  Swedes 
demolished  it  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  but 
the  lantern  and  the  eastern  lancet  window 
still  remain  to  suggest  its  former  great 
beauty. 

This  beautiful  chapel  was  built  as  a  memo- 
rial to  the  child  Werner,  whose  body  was 
fabled  to  have  been  thrown  by  the  Jews,  his 
supposed  murderers,  into  the  Rhine  at  Ober- 
wesel.  Instead  of  floating  down-stream  with 
the  current,  it  went  up-stream  as  far  as  Bacha- 
rach, where  it  was  recovered. 

There  is  at  Bacharach  a  twelfth-century 
church  in  the  Byzantine  style,  which  is  now 
a  Protestant  temple.  It  is  an  incongruous 
affair  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  style  is  fairly 

172 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


pure  of  its  kind,  so  far  as  the  body  of  the 
church  is  concerned.  Surmounting  it  is  a 
needle-like  spire  which  rises  above  the  cren- 


M%^^y^^^ 


III,  "M^-^ 


h-. 


elated  battlement  of  its  tower  in  a  most  fan- 
tastic manner. 

The  city  walls  have  great  ornamental  and 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

picturesque  qualities,  and  were,  in  former 
days,  defended  by  twelve  towers  of  imposing 
strength. 

The  evolution  of  the  name  of  Bacharach  is 
decidedly  non-Christian.  It  is  frankly  pagan, 
being  descended  from  Bacchi  ara,  —  the  altar 
of  Bacchus,  —  which  was  the  name  originally 
given  to  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  river,  which, 
in  varying  seasons,  is  sometimes  covered  by 
the  flood,  and  again  quite  dry.  When  its  sur- 
face appears  to  the  light  of  day,  the  vineyard 
owner  hails  it  as  a  sign  of  good  vintage. 

In  proof  of  the  quality  of  the  wines  of  Bach- 
arach, it  is  said  that  Pope  Pius  II.  used  every 
year  to  have  a  great  tun  of  it  brought  to  Rome 
for  his  special  use,  and  that  the  Emperor  Wen- 
ceslas  granted  their  freedom  to  the  citizens  of 
Nuremberg  in  return  for  four  tuns  of  the  wine 
of  Bacharach.  To-day  Bacharach  is,  with 
Cologne,  the  great  wine  centre  of  the  Rhine 
valley. 

Asmanhausen,  a  few  miles  up  the  river,  is 
the  central  mart  for  the  red  wines  of  the  Rhine. 
Near  Asmanhausen  is  Ehrenfels,  where  the 
Archbishops  of  Mayence  had  a  chateau  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  chateau  is  still  there, 
but  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  magnificent 
ruin. 

174 


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Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Opposite  Ehrenfels  is  Bingen,  with  its 
Mausethiirm.  The  chief  sentimental  memory 
of  Bingen  is  unquestionably  the  legend  of 
Bishop  Hatto  and  his  "  Mouse  Tower  on  the 
Rhine." 

The  legend  of  Hatto,  versified  by  Southey, 
has  stamped  the  memory  of  the  Mouse  Tower 
and  its  associations  so  indelibly  upon  the  mind 
that  it  overshadows  in  interest  all  else  in  the 
vicinity. 

"  'Tis  the  safest  place  in  Germany; 
The  walls  are  high,  and  the  shores  are  steep, 
And  the  stream  is  strong  and  the  water  deep." 

How  the  rats  came  and  — 

"...   whetted  their  teeth  against  the  stones 
And  how  they  picked  the  Bishop's  bones  "  — 

is  an  old  story  with  which  children  have  been 
regaled  for  generations  past. 

The  great  white  "  Mouse  Tower  "  stands 
to-day  on  its  tiny  island  in  the  middle  of  the 
waters  of  the  Rhine,  between  Bingen  and 
Ehrenfels,  to  perpetuate  the  story,  while  its 
ruined  walls  look  down,  as  they  always  have, 
on  the  steady  flow  of  the  Rhine  water,  making 
its  way  from  the  place  of  its  birth  in  the  Can- 

177 


Cathedrals  and  Clinyches  of  the  Rhine 

ton  of  Grisons  to  the  cold  waters  of  the  Ger- 
man ocean  ofif  the  coast  of  Holland. 

Rudesheim 

Rudesheim,  but  a  small  town  of  less  than 
three  thousand  inhabitants,  is  noted  for  its 
wines  and  its  ruins.  Its  church,  though  a 
fifteenth-century  edifice  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary beauty,  —  if  we  except  its  nondescript 
spire,  ■ —  comes  decidedly  last  in  the  city's  list 
of  attractions. 

The  remains  of  the  four  chateaux  in  the 
neighbourhood  are  the  chief  object  of  the 
casual  tourist. 

The  town  is  the  centre  of  a  vineyard,  the 
grapes  being  grown  in  great  profusion  near 
it.  The  favourable  nature  of  the  locality  for 
grape-growing  was  discovered,  it  is  said,  by 
Charlemagne,  who,  remarking  the  rapid  dis- 
appearance of  the  snow^  on  the  slopes  about 
Rudesheim,  declared  his  belief  that  fine  wine 
might  be  grown  there.  Sending  to  France 
for  some  plants,  they  were  placed  in  the  earth, 
and  have  ever  since  yielded  a  grape  worthy 
of  their  parentage,  a  grape  still  called 
Orleans. 

From  this  town  the  tourist  may  make  .i 
178 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

pleasant  excursion  to  the  Niederwald,  —  hav- 
ing first  given  his  attention  to  the  history 
of  Rudesheim,  once  the  seat  of  an  imperial 
court  held  in  the  Nieder  Burg,  —  and  scan  its 
four  ancient  castles.  Of  these,  one  belonged 
for  a  time  to  Prince  Metternich,  who,  how- 
ever, sold  it  to  Count  Ingelheim,  its  present 
possessor;  another  Is  picturesquely  posted  at 
the  upper  part  of  the  town,  and  still  retains 
some  curious  relics  of  the  Bromser  family,  its 
old  possessors.  A  tradition  still  exists,  telling 
how  Hans  Bromser,  being  taken  captive  in 
Jerusalem,  made  a  vow  to  Heaven  that  if  re- 
leased he  would  dedicate  his  only  daughter 
to  the  service  of  the  Church.  Gaining  his 
liberty  soon  afterw^ard,  he  returned  to  the 
Rhine  to  find  the  child  he  had  left  when  he 
started  for  the  Crusades  grown  to  woman- 
hood ;  and  he  learned  also  that,  secure  of  her 
father's  sanction,  she  had  betrothed  herself  to 
a  youthful  knight.  Love  and  duty  well-nigh 
rent  the  maiden's  heart  in  twain,  till  love  con- 
quered, and  she  begged  her  stern  parent  to 
relent.  This  he  refused  to  do,  and  threatened 
her  with  a  father's  curse  should  she  marry. 

Despairing,  she  threw  herself  into  the 
Rhine,  and  her  body  floated  down-stream 
as  far  as   Bishop   Hatto's  Mouse  Tower,   at 

179 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Bingen.  This  gave  rise  to  another  legend,  that 
when  the  surface  of  the  waters  is  troubled 
it  is  caused  by  the  uneasy  spirit  of  Bromser's 
daughter,  wrestling  with  the  dreadful  fate  to 
which  she  was  driven. 


1 80 


XVIII 

LIMBURG 

The  cathedral  of  Limburg-on-Lahn,  not 
farther  from  the  juncture  of  the  Lahn  and 
Rhine  than  is  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  may 
well  be  considered  a  Rhine  cathedral. 

The  Lahn  is  by  no  means  so  powerful  a 
stream  as  is  the  Main  or  the  Neckar;  nor  is  it 
either  picturesque,  or  even  important  as  a 
waterway. 

It  has  this  one  virtue,  however:  it  forms  a 
setting  to  Limburg's  many-spired  cathedral 
that  is  truly  grand. 

Limburg  played  a  great  part  in  the  middle 
ages,  and  its  origin  goes  far  back  into  an- 
tiquity. Under  Drusus  a  castellum  was 
erected  here,  which  was  destroyed  by  the 
Franks  and  the  Alemanni. 

The  counts  of  the  lower  Lahn  province 
were  among  the  most  powerful  in  all  Ger- 
many.     They    gave    their   city    the    name   of 

i8i 


Cat  lied yals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Roemercastel,  which  name,  to  some  extent, 
may  be  said  to  live  up  to  to-day.  Later  the 
Franks  called  it  Lintburc,  from  the  little 
river  Linther,  which  flows  into  the  Lahn  at 
this  point. 

The  cathedral  of  Limburg  is  the  most  im- 
posing and  homogeneous  of  all  the  romano- 
ogival  edifices  of  Germany. 

Consecrated  to  St.  George,  this  church 
dates  from  the  latter  years  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury and  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth.  It 
was  erected  by  Count  Henry  of  Nassau,  and 
replaced  two  more  ancient  edifices  on  the 
same  site. 

Without  a  doubt  it  is  a  mediaeval  monu- 
ment which  stands  supreme  in  its  class,  though 
its  grandeur  comes  not  so  much  from  mere 
magnitude  as  it  does  from  the  general  dis- 
position of  its  plan,  and  the  wonderful  blend- 
ing of  the  transition  elements  which,  after  all 
is  said  and  done,  in  Germany,  are  not  else- 
where very  pronounced. 

The  seven  spires  and  towers  of  this  cathe- 
dral form  a  wonderful  grouping  and  make  a 
sky-line  more  broken  than  that  of  any  other 
great  church  in  all  Europe. 

There  is  a  certain  symmetry  about  this  out- 
line, but  it  is  not  pyramidal,  after  the  manner 

182 


L 


IMBURG    CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

of  the  cathedral  at  Bonn.  In  short,  it  is  rem- 
iniscent only  of  itself. 

On  the  west  are  a  pair  of  massive  towers 
with  conical  caps,  which  give  a  facade  at  once 
remarkable  and  distinguished. 

Flanking  the  north  transept  are  two  smaller 
towers,  and  the  same  arrangement  is  found 
just  opposite  on  the  south. 

Above  rises  the  great  central  octagon,  sur- 
mounted in  turn  by  a  dwindling  octagonal 
spire,  not  beautiful  in  itself  with  its  steeply 
inclined  slate  or  lead  roofing,  but  which, 
under  all  atmospheric  conditions,  lends  a  har- 
mony to  and  is  a  key-note  of  the  whole  struc- 
ture which  is  wonderfully  effective. 

The  interior  plan  is  conventional  and  sim- 
ple enough,  consisting  of  the  usual  three 
naves,  with  an  easterly  apse,  surrounded  by 
an  ambulatory  and  flanking  chapel. 

Within,  as  well  as  from  the  outside,  the 
effect  is  one  of  an  ampleness  which  is  not 
borne  out  by  the  actual  dimensions,  which 
fact,  of  course,  shows  most  able  design  and 
execution. 

The  elevation  of  the  nave,  choir,  and  tran- 
septs is  divided  into  four  ranges  of  openings, 
such  as  are  seen  at  Soissons  in   the   Isle  of 


183 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

France,  and,  in  a  less  complete  form,  in  Notre 
Dame  at  Paris. 

This  has  always  been  a  daring  procedure, 
but  in  this  case  it  has  been  carried  out  with 
success,  and  gives  the  desired  effect,  —  that 
of  ampleness  and  height. 

In  the  clerestory  windows  are  found  the 
rounded  arches  which  mark  the  link  w^hich 
binds  the  Gothic  arches  elsewhere  in  the  fab- 
ric with  the  earlier  Romanesque  style. 

The  vaulting  is  of  the  Gothic  order 
throughout,  with  gracefully  proportioned 
shafts   and  full-flowered  capitals. 

All  this  preserves  the  simple  elements  of 
early  Gothic  in  so  impressive  a  way  that  the 
observer  will  quite  overlook,  or  at  least  make 
allowance  for,  the  row  of  round-headed  win- 
dows aloft. 

The  triforium  gallery  is  a  charming  fea- 
ture, and  has  seldom  been  found  so  highly 
developed  outside  of  an  early  Gothic  church. 
In  general  the  feature  is  French,  and  this  is 
perhaps  the  only  example  outside  France 
which  is  so  reminiscent  of  that  variety  fre- 
quently to  be  met  with  in  the  cathedrals  of 
the  Isle  of  France. 

The  triforium  is  pierced  through  to  the 
nave  by  a  series  of  double  narrow  arches  en- 

184 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhi^ie 

closed  within  a  larger  broad-framed  arch, 
while  in  the  transepts  and  choir  the  desired 
effect  is  accomplished  by  tripled  arches  with 
the  same  general  scheme  of  arrangement. 

With  regard  to  furnishings  and  accesso- 
ries, this  great  cathedral  is  singularly  com- 
plete. 

There  is  a  highly  ornate  pulpit  in  sculp- 
tured wood  which  some  will  consider  the  peer 
of  any  seen  elsewhere.  It  is  decorated  further 
by  a  series  of  painted  wooden  statues  of  the 
saints,  Nicholas,  Ambrose,  Augustin,  Greg- 
ory, and  Jerome. 

There  is  a  fine  custode  covering  a  pyx, 
which  is  surmounted  by  a  fifteenth-century 
baldaquin,  and  a  tomb  of  a  former  canon, 
ornamented  in  bas-relief. 

There  is  also  a  pair  of  baptismal  fonts, 
enormous  in  size  and  said  to  be  contem- 
poraneous with  the  foundation  of  the  cathe- 
dral. 

A  tomb  of  Daniel  of  Mutersbach,  a  knight 
who  died  in  1475,  is  placed  in  one  of  the 
chapels  at  the  crossing,  and  near  by  is  a  mau- 
soleum to  that  Conrad  who,  by  virtue  of  a 
charter  given  by  Louis  in  909,  founded  the 
church  which  preceded  the  present  edifice  on 
this  site. 

185 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

It  bears   the   following   inscription    in    the 
barbarous  Latin  of  the  time: 

CLAUDITUR     HOC    TUMULO    PER   QUEM 

NUNC    SERVITUS    ISTO 

FIT    CELEBRIS    TEMPLO,    LAUS,    VIRTUS, 

GLORIA    CHRISTO. 


i86 


XIX 

COBLENZ  AND  BOPPART 

Coblenz 

It  is  an  open  question  as  to  whether  the 
charming  little  city  of  Coblenz  is  more  de- 
lightful because  of  itself,  or  because  of  its 
proximity  to  the  famous  fortress  of  Ehren- 
breitstein,  —  "the  broad  stone  of  honour." 

"  Here  Ehrenbreitstein  with  her  shatter'd  wall 
Black  with  the  miner's  blast  upon  her  height, 
Yet  shows  of  what  she  was,  when  shell  and  ball 
Rebounding  idly  on  her  strength  did  light." 

The  city  occupies  a  most  romantically  and 
historically  endowed  situation  at  the  junction 
of  the  Moselle  and  the  Rhine. 

At  Coblenz  the  sons  of  Charlemagne  met 
to  divide  their  father's  empire  into  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy;  there  also  Edward  III. 
in  1338  met  the  Emperor  Louis,  and  was  by 
him  appointed  vicar  of  the  empire;  and  at 
Coblenz  the   French   raised   a   monument  to 

187 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

commemorate  the  subjugation  of  Russia. 
Soon  after  the  inscription  was  finished,  the 
Russian  commander  entered  Coblenz  in  pur- 
suit of  Napoleon.  With  memorable  and  caus- 
tic wit  he  left  the  inscription  as  it  stood,  just 
adding,  "  Vu  et  approuve  par  nous,  Com- 
mandant Russe  de  la  Ville  de  Coblence,  Jan- 
vier ler,  1814."  Here  also  is  the  monument 
to  the  young  and  gallant  General  Marceau, 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Altenkirchen,  1796. 

"  By  Coblenz,  on  a  rise  of  gentle  ground. 
There  is  a  small  and  simple  pyramid. 
Crowning  the  summ-it  of  the  verdant  mound  : 
Beneath  its  base  are  hero's  ashes  hid." 

The  Moselle,  which  joins  the  Rhine  at  Co- 
blenz, was,  like  the  Rhine  itself,  referred  to 
by  Caesar. 

The  pleasant  valley  of  the  Moselle  —  in- 
deed it  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  (which  is  a 
vague  term,  but  one  easily  understood  by  all) 
in  all  Europe  —  was  celebrated  by  one  of 
the  longer  poems  of  Ausonius,  who  wrote  in 
the  fourth  century. 

For  those  who  would  translate  the  original, 
his  description  will  not  be  found  inapropos 
to-day: 

188 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

"  ^ua  sublimis  apex  longo  super  ardua  tractu 
Et  rupes  et  aprica  jugi^Jiexusque  sinusque 
Vitibus  adsurgunt  naturalique  theatro" 


Vines  then,  as  now,  clothed  the  slopes  of 
the  hills  and  cliffs  which  sheltered  the  deep- 
cut  stream. 

A  Roman  governor  of  Gaul  once  proposed 
to  unite  the  Moselle  with  the  Saone  (as  it  is 
to-day,  by  means  of  the  Canal  de  I'Est),  and 
thus  effect  a  waterway  across  Europe  from 
the  North  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean. 

The  church  of  St.  Castor  stands  on  the  spot 
of  the  famous  conference  between  the  sons  of 
Charlemagne.  It  is  one  of  the  most  ancient 
of  the  Rhine  churches,  and  was  founded  by 
Louis  the  Pious  in  836. 

Of  this  early  church  but  little  remains  to- 
day except  some  distinct  features  to  be  noted 
in  the  choir. 

The  four  towers  form  a  remarkable  outline, 
and  two  of  them,  at  least  as  to  their  lower 
ranges,  are  undoubtedly  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury. 

In  this  church  are  a  series  of  remarkable 
decorations,  one  on  the  wall  above  the  spring 
of  the  nave  arches,  another  above  the  entrance 
of  the  choir  aisle,  and  yet  another  in  the  semi- 

189 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

circular  roofing  of  the  apse.  It  may  be  a 
question  as  to  how  far  such  decorations  are 
in  really  good  taste,  but  they  certainly  lend 
a  warmth  and  brilliancy  to  an  edifice  that 
might  otherwise  be  cold  and  unfeeling. 

Many  are  the  historic  incidents  connected 
with  this  venerable  building.  The  notifica- 
tion of  the  sons  of  Louis  the  Pious  took  place 
in  870;  the  reconciliation  of  Henri  IV.  of 
Germany  with  his  sons  occurred  in  1105;  St. 
Bernard  preached  the  Crusades  here  before 
a  vast  congregation,  recruiting  for  the  army 
for  the  East  over  one  thousand  citizens  of 
Coblenz  alone. 

Near  the  church  of  St.  Castor  is  the  house 
of  the  Teutonic  Order,  of  fine  Gothic  design, 
but  to-day  turned  into  a  military  magazine. 

On  a  hill  overlooking  the  city  was  the  fa- 
mous Chartreuse  convent,  the  ruins  of  which 
are  now  swallowed  up  by  Forts  Constantine 
and  Alexander. 

The  bridge  which  crosses  the  Moselle  at 
this  point  is  in  itself  a  wonderful  old  relic. 
It  spans  the  river  on  fourteen  arches,  and 
dates  from  1344,  save  that  its  watch-tower  was 
built  at  a  later  day. 

The  bridge  of  boats  which  crosses  the 
Rhine,  on  thirty-six  pontoons,  partakes  of  the 

190 


r  "s 


i^H 


^   > 


m 


J  -^  cy 
O  ^^ 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

same  characteristics  as  its  brother  at  Mayence, 
though  by  no  means  is  it  so  celebrated. 

Above  Coblenz  the  Rhine  narrows  consid- 
erably, and  the  mountains  and  hilltops  draw 
in  until  one's  progress,  by  water,  is  almost  as 
if  it  were  through  a  canon. 

Niederlahnstein  has  a  fine  ruined  church 
in  St.  John's,  whence  it  is  but  a  short  distance 
to  Boppart. 

Boppart 

Boppart  was  the  ancient  Bandobriga  of  the 
Romans,  and,  like  many  another  place  along 
the  Rhine,  is  closely  linked  with  the  memory 
of  Drusus. 

Boppart  was  made  an  imperial  city,  and 
many  Diets  were  held  within  its  walls. 

The  Hauptkirche,  with  its  twin-jointed 
spires,  was  built  about  the  year  1200. 

It  is  thoroughly  Romanesque,  if  we  except 
the  spires  which  are  linked  together  by  a  sort 
of  galleried  vestibule,  after  a  manner  that 
is  neither  Romanesque  nor  anything  else. 

The  inside  galleries  over  the  aisles  (man- 
nerchore)  are  interesting,  though  by  no  means 
a  unique  feature  in  RTiine  churches. 

There  is  a  queer  intermixture  of  pointed 
and  round-headed  arches  in  both  the  nave  and 

191 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

choir,  but  nothing  to  indicate  that  it  was  any- 
thing but  a  Romanesque  influence  that  in- 
spired the  builders  of  this  not  very  appealing 
church. 

The  vestibule  which  joins  the  spires,  and 
the  most  unusual  groining  of  the  vaulting  of 
the  body  of  the  church,  are  two  features  which 
the  expert  will  linger  over  and  marvel  at, 
but  they  have  not  much  interest  for  the  lay 
observer  who  will  prefer  to  stroll  along  the 
river-bank  and  pick  out  charming  vistas  for 
his  camera. 

The  convent  of  Marienburg,  which  rises 
high  on  the  hillside  back  of  the  town,  has  an 
ancient  history  and  was  a  vast  foundation  to 
which  references  are  continually  met  with  in 
history.  To-day  it  is  a  hydropathic  estab- 
lishment for  semi-invalids  and  devotees  of 
bridge  and  tea  parties. 

The  Carmelite  church  contains  some  richly 
carved  sixteenth-century  monuments,  now 
somewhat  mutilated,  but  very  beautiful. 

The  Templehof  perpetuates  the  fact  that 
it  was  the  Knights  Templars  of  Boppart  who 
first  mounted  the  breach  at  the  storming  of 
Ptolemais  in  the  third  crusade. 

This  completes  the  list  of  Boppart's  ecclesi- 
astical monuments. 

192 


G 


ENERAL    VIE^^ 
of  BOPPART 


Cathedrals  and  CJiurches  of  the  Rhine 

In  the  fourteenth  century  the  town  was  a 
"free  imperial  city";  but,  following  upon 
political  dissension  with  its  neighbours,  it 
was  returned  to  the  guardianship  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Treves. 

Previously  it  would  appear  that  the  inhab- 
itants had  not  been  very  religious,  but  the 
archbishop  was  able  to  induce  them  to  build 
him  a  chateau  here  as  a  place  of  temporary 
residence;  "  the  first  service,"  says  the  chron- 
icle of  the  time,  "  which  we  have  rendered  our 
gracious  master." 


193 


XX 

LAACH  AND  STOLZENFELS 
Laach 

Back  of  Coblcnz  is  the  charming  little 
lake  of  Laach,  at  the  other  end  of  which  is 
the  picturesque  but  deserted  abbey  of  Laach, 
one  of  the  most  celebrated,  architecturally  and 
historically,  of  all  the  religious  edifices  along 
the  Rhine. 

Once  a  Benedictine  convent,  it  was  pillaged 
and  its  inmates  dispersed  during  the  overflow 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  is  now  naught 
but  a  ruin,  though  in  many  respects  a  grandly 
preserved  one. 

The  abbey  was  founded  in  1093  by 
Henry  IL  of  Laach,  Count  Palatine  of  Lower 
Lorraine,  and  the  first  Count  Palatine  of  the 
Rhine. 

Its  magnificent  church,  built  in  the  most 
acceptable  Gothic,  contains  the  remains  of 
its  founder  and  many  nobles. 

The  monks  of  the  abbey  were,  in  the  mid- 
194 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

die  ages,  greatly  celebrated  for  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  sciences  and  their  hospitality. 
Their  library  was  richly  stored  with  biblio- 
graphical treasures,  and  they  possessed  a  fine 
collection  of  paintings.  To-day  the  abbey 
and  its  dependencies  is  but  a  shadow  of  its 
former  self;  its  library  and  its  picture-gallery 


.^^3" 


have  disappeared,  and,  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  establishment  was  sold  for  a  price 
so  small  that  it  would  be  a  sacrilege  to  men- 
tion it. 

Stolzenfels 

The  mention  of   the  castle  of  Stolzenfels 
hardly  suggests  anything  churchly  or  devout, 

^95 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

though  those  who  know  the  history  of  this 
most  picturesque  of  all  Rhine  castles  (restored 
though  it  be)  know  also  that  it  was  an  early 
foundation  of  Archbishop  Arnold  of  Treves 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  was,  during  the 
century  following,  the  residence  of  his  suc- 
cessors. 

Placed  high  upon  its  "  proud  rock''  the 
restored  fabric  to-day  wonderfully  resembles 
the  castled-crag  of  one's  imagination. 

Archbishop  Werner  of  Strasburg  also  made 
it  his  residence  in  turn,  and  later  the  English 
princess  betrothed  to  the  Emperor  Freder- 
ick II.  of  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty  was  enter- 
tained there. 

The  castle  was  nearly  destroyed  by  the 
French  in  1688,  and  in  1825  the  ruin  was 
made  over  to  the  then  prince  royal,  afterward 
King  of  Prussia. 

Within  the  reconstructed  walls,  topped 
with  a  series  of  crenelated  battlements,  after 
the  true  mediaeval  manner,  one  finds  an  ample 
courtyard,  from  which  lead  the  entrances  to 
the  various  parts  of  the  vast  fortress. 

Innumerable  apartments  open  out  one  from 
the  other,  all  forming  a  great  museum  filled 
with  all  manner  of  curios  and  relics. 

In  a  corner  of  one  great  room  was  long 
iq6 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


kept  (they  may  or  may  not  be  there  yet;  the 
writer  does  not  know)  the  Austrian  and  Swiss 
standards   taken   in   the  Thirty  Years'   War. 


c    ^ 


3TOLZEMFEL5 


There  was  also  a  cabinet  containing  the  sabre 
of  Murat,  taken  at  Waterloo;  the  sabres  of 
Blucher,  of  Poniatowski,  and  Sobieski ;    and 

197 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  swords  of  the  Due  d'Albe  and  De  Tilly; 
and,  incongruously  enough,  a  knife  and  fork 
said  to  have  belonged  to  Andreas  Hofer,  the 
hero  of  the  Tyrol. 

In  the  chamber  of  the  king  is  a  magnificent 
piece  of  ecclesiastical  furniture  in  the  form 
of  a  processional  cross  said  to  date  from  the 
eighth  century. 

The  fine  Gothic  chapel  is  decidedly  the 
gem  of  the  whole  fabric  and  its  accessories, 
and,  though  only  finished  in  its  completeness, 
during  the  present  day,  it  is  a  master  copy  of 
the  best  style  of  the  Gothic  era. 


198 


XXI 

ANDERNACH  AND  SINZIG 
Andernach 

Andernach  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  in 
the  Rhine  valley,  and  grew  up  out  of  one  of 
Drusus's  camps,  which  was  built  here  when 
the  town  was  known  as  Antonacum. 

This  was  its  early  history,  as  given  by  Am- 
mien  Marcellin;  and  a  later  authority  men- 
tions it  as  the  second  city  of  the  electorate 
of  Treves   {Die  Andre  Darnach). 

In  the  records  of  Drusus's  time,  there  is 
a  reference  to  a  chateau  here,  which  was  the 
fiftieth  he  had  built  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine. 

The  kings  of  Austrasia  had  their  palace 
here  as  well,  so  the  place  became  a  political 
and  strategic  city  of  very  nearly  the  first  rank. 

In  the  middle  ages  Andernach  shone  bril- 
liantly among  the  centres  of  commerce  in  the 
Rhine  valley. 

Charles  V.  was  responsible  for  a  battle  be- 
199 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tween  the  inhabitants  of  Linz  and  those  of 
Rhieneck  and  Andernach,  in  which  nearly 
all  the  latter  were  massacred. 

To  soften  any  hard  feeling  that  might  still 
exist,  a  sermon  was  always  preached,  up  to 
the  last  century,  in  the  market-place,  on  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day,  urging  the  people  to  for- 
give their  enemies.  The  records  tell,  how- 
ever, that  on  one  occasion  an  unfortunate  in- 
habitant of  Linz  was  discovered  in  Ander- 
nach, and  that  he  was  forthwith  put  to  death 
in  most  unchristianlike  fashion. 

The  Gate  of  Coblenz  at  Andernach  is  gen- 
erally regarded  as  an  ancient  Roman  work, 
though  not  of  the  monumental  order  usual  in 
works  of  its  kind. 

The  present  fortifications  date  from  the 
fifteenth  century,  as  does  the  picturesque 
watch-tower  by  the  waterside. 

With  Andernach  is  identified  the  tradition 
of  a  Count  Palatine,  who,  returning  from  the 
Holy  Wars,  was  persuaded  by  a  false  friend 
that  his  lady  had  proved  faithless;  and,  with- 
out listening  to  excuse,  drove  her  forth  to  the 
woods.  In  the  forest  she  found  shelter  with 
her  youthful  son,  lodging  in  caves  and  living 
on  fruits  and  herbs  for  many  years.  One  day 
her  husband,  having  lost  his  companions  in 

200 


G 


ENERAL    VIEW 
of    ANDERNACH 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  chase,  came  by  accident  upon  her  place 
of  concealment.  The  wife  of  his  bosom,  care- 
fully nurtured  in  her  youth,  but  now  living 
unattended  in  the  wilds,  and  his  son,  now 
grown  into  a  fine  youth,  excited  his  pity.  Lis- 
tening to  the  truth,  he  took  home  the  innocent 
victims  of  perfidy,  and  retaliated  upon  the  tra- 
ducer  by  hanging  him  from  the  highest  tower 
of  his  castle.  After  her  death,  the  countess  be- 
came St.  Genofeva,  and  is  the  patroness  of 
the  parish  church  of  St.  Genevieve,  which  is 
a  lofty  structure  with  four  towers  which  rise 
high  above  the  surrounding  buildings  in  a 
fashion  which  would  be  truly  imposing  were 
the  church  less  overornamented  in  all  its  parts. 

The  actual  foundation  of  the  church  dates 
from  Carlovingian  times,  and  a  tenth-century 
church  is  visibly  incorporated  into  the  present 
fabric,  but  in  the  main  the  present  structure 
is  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  facade,  as  is  the  case  with  most  of  the 
Romano-Byzantine  churches  on  the  Rhine, 
is  flanked  by  two  fine  towers,  showing  some 
slight  traces  of  the  incoming  ogival  style. 

Flanking  the  apside  are  two  other  towers, 
somewhat  heavier  and  thoroughly  Roman- 
esque in  motive. 

The  southern  doorway  is  surrounded  by  a 

20I 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

series  of  remarkably  elaborate  and  excellent 
sculptures,  showing  delicate  foliage,  birds, 
and  human  figures  disposed  after  the  best 
manner  of  the  Romanesque.  The  northern 
doorway  is  decorated  in  a  similar  manner, 
with  an  elaborate  grouping  of  two  angels  and 
the  paschal  lamb  in  the  tympanum.  To  the 
right  of  this  portal  is  a  curious  coloured  bas- 
relief  set  in  the  wall.  It  represents  the  death 
of  the  Virgin,  and  dates  from  the  early  six- 
teenth century. 

The  interior  is  divided  into  three  naves  by 
two  ranges  of  pillars,  square  and  very  short. 
The  arcades  between  the  aisles  and  the  nave 
are  rounded,  but  the  vaulting  is  ogival. 

The  second  range  of  pillars  forms  an  arcade 
quite  similar  to  the  lower  one,  but  the  pillars 
are  of  black  marble.  A  modern  balustrade, 
which  has  been  added,  is  frightful  in  its  con- 
trast with  the  more  ancient  constructive  de- 
tails. 

Above  all  are  six  windows  on  a  side,  which 
in  plan  and  proportions  resemble  those  of  the 
side  aisles. 

The  choir  is  in  effect  a  cul-de-four,  and  is 
lighted  by  five  windows  placed  rather  high 
up.  Below  are  a  series  of  niches,  in  which 
are  placed  modern  statues,  about  as  bad  as 

202 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

can  be  imagined,  even  in  these  degenerate 
architectural  times. 

The  gallery  behind  the  second  tier  of  col- 
umns is  known  as  the  mannshaus,  being  in- 
tended for  the  male  portion  of  the  congrega- 
tion, the  women  sitting  below. 

The  pulpit  came  from  the  old  abbey  of 
Laach. 

On  the  left  of  the  grand  nave  is  the  tomb 
of  a  knight  of  Lahnstein,  who  died  in  1541. 

There  is  another  legend  connected  with 
Andernach  which  may  well  be  recounted 
here. 

One  day,  during  the  minority  of  the  Em- 
peror Henry  IV.,  the  tutors  of  the  prince,  the 
proud  Archbishop  Annon  of  Cologne  and  the 
Palatine,  Henry  the  Furious,  held  a  meeting 
with  certain  other  seigneurs  at  Andernach. 
The  same  day  the  inhabitants  of  Giils,  a  vil- 
lage near  Coblenz,  lodged  a  complaint  before 
the  Palatine  concerning  the  exactions  of  the 
provost  of  their  village.  This  last,  himself, 
followed  the  deputies,  magnificently  clothed 
and  mounted  upon  a  richly  caparisoned  horse, 
counting  upon  his  presence  to  counteract  the 
impression  they  might  make.  Among  the 
collection  of  wHd  beasts  which  had  been  gath- 
ered together  for  the  amusement  of  the  princes 

203 


Cathedrals  ajtd  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

was  a  ferocious  bear.  When  the  provost 
passed  near  him,  the  animal  sprang  upon  him 
and  tore  him  to  pieces,  whereupon  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  venerable  archbishop  had  exer- 
cised a  divine  power,  and  delivered  up  the 
oppressor  to  the  fury  of  a  wild  beast.  Like 
most  of  the  Rhine  legends,  it  is  astonishingly 
simple  in  plot,  and  likewise  has  a  religious 
turn  to  it,  which  shows  the  great  respect  of 
the  ancient  people  of  these  regions  toward 
their  creed. 

Sinzig 

Between  Andernach  and  Bonn  is  the  tiny 
city  of  Sinzig,  famous  for  two  things,  —  its 
charmingly  disposed  parish  church  and  the 
wines  of  Assmanhaus. 

The  town  was  the  ancient  Sentiacum  of 
the  Romans,  constructed  in  all  probability  by 
Sentius,  one  of  the  generals  of  Augustus. 

The  church  at  Sinzig,  in  company  with  St. 
Quirinus  at  Neuss,  has  some  of  the  best  medi- 
aeval glass  in  Germany. 

This  small,  but  typically  Rhenish,  parish 
church  has  also  a  series  of  polychromatic 
decorations  which  completely  cover  its  avail- 
able wall  space. 

There  is  a  vividness  about  them  which  may 
204 


J-       X  II  'li^   1       /i^ 


^       ./ 


:m 


Shicis; 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

be   pleasing  to  some,  but  which  will  strike 
many  as  being  distinctly  unchurchly. 

As  a  Christian  edifice,  the  church  at  Sinzig, 
with  its  central  tower  and  spire,  is  only  re- 
markable as  typifying  the  style  of  Romano- 
ogival  architecture  which  developed  so 
broadly  in  the  Rhine  valley  at  the  expense  of 
the  purer  Gothic. 


207 


XXII 

TREVES 

Southwesterly  from  Coblenz,  between 
the  Rhine  and  Metz,  is  Treves,  known  by 
the  Germans  as  Trier.  Situated  at  the  south- 
ern end  of  a  charming  valley,  which  more 
or  less  closely  follows  the  banks  of  the  Mo- 
selle, it  has  the  appearance  of  being  a  vast 
park  with  innumerable  houses  and  edifices 
scattered  here  and  there  through  the  foliage. 
The  city  contains  many  churches,  of  which  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Pierre  et  Ste.  Helene  is  the 
chief. 

At  one  time  the  Augusta  Trevirorum  of 
the  Romans  was  "  the  richest,  the  most  for- 
tunate, the  most  glorious,  and  the  most  emi- 
nent of  all  the  cities  north  of  the  Alps,"  said 
an  enthusiastic  local  historian. 

The  claim  may  be  disputed  by  another 
whose  civic  pride  lies  elsewhere,  but  all  know 
that  Treves,  as  the  flourishing  capital  of  the 
Gaulois  beiges,  actually  rivalled  Rome  itself. 

208 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Augustus  established  a  Roman  colony  here 
with  its  own  Senate,  and  many  of  the  Roman 
emperors  of  the  long  line  which  followed 
made  it  their  residence  during  their  sojourn 
in  the  north. 

From  the  Augusta  Trevirorum  of  the  Ro- 
mans, the  city  became  in  time,  under  the  later 
Empire,  Treviri,  from  which  the  present 
nomenclature  of  Treves  and  Trier  comes.  It 
was  one  of  the  sixty  great  towns  which  were 
taken  from  the  Romans  by  the  Franks  and 
the  Alemanni. 

The  Roman  bridge  over  the  Moselle,  built 
probably  by  Agrippa,  existed  until  the  wars 
of  Louis  XIV.,  in  1669,  when  it  was  blown 
up;  and  all  that  now  remains  of  the  original 
work  are  the  foundations  of  the  piers,  which 
were  built  upon  anew  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. 

As  a  bishopric,  and  later  as  an  archbishop- 
ric, the  see  is  the  most  ancient  in  Germany, 
having  been  founded  in  327  by  the  Empress 
Helene. 

In  the  twelfth  century  it  became  an  arch- 
bishopric and  an  electorate,  but  during  the 
fourteenth  century,  because  of  continual 
struggles  between  the  municipality  and  the 
Churchy  the  archbishops  removed  to  Coblenz. 

209 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  the  cathedral  rests  the  Holy  Coat  of 
Treves,  one  of  the  most  sacred  relics  of  the 
Saviour  extant,  and  supposedly  the  veritable 
garment  worn  by  him  at  the  crucifixion, — 
the  seamless  garment  for  which  the  soldiers 
cast  lots  (John  xix.  23,  24). 

When  exposed  to  public  view,  which  cere- 
mony used  to  take  place  only  once  in  thirty 
years,  the  holy  robe  is  placed  upon  the  high 
altar,  which  has  previously  been  dressed  for 
the  occasion.  The  altar  is  approached  by  many 
steps  on  each  side,  and  there  are  several  steps 
at  intervals  in  the  aisles,  so  that  the  appear- 
ance of  the  long  line  of  pilgrims  on  their  way 
down  the  side  aisles  and  up  to  the  altar  is 
most  picturesque.  As  many  as  t^venty  thou- 
sand pilgrims  are  said  to  have  paid  their  de- 
votions to  this  relic  in  a  single  day.  They 
come  in  processions  of  hundreds,  and  some- 
times thousands;  and  are  of  all  classes,  but 
mostly  peasants.  The  lame,  the  blind,  and 
the  sick  are  included  in  their  ranks,  and  it 
is  noticeable  that  the  majority  are  women. 
They  are  constantly  arriving,  pouring  in  at 
several  gates  of  the  city  in  an  almost  continual 
stream,  accompanied  by  priests,  banners,  and 
crosses,  and  alternately  singing  and  praying. 
There  are  many  of  them  heavily  laden,  their 

210 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

packs  on  their  backs,  their  bright  brass  pans, 
pitchers,  and  kettles  of  all  shapes  in  their 
hands,  or  slung  on  their  arms,  while  their 
fingers  are  busily  employed  with  their  beads. 
Wayworn  and  footsore,  fatigued  and  hungry, 
they  yet  pursue  their  toilsome  march,  intent 
upon  the  attainment  of  the  one  object  of  their 
pilgrimage.  It  is  curious  and  picturesque  to 
see  their  long  lines  of  processions  in  the  open 
country,  wending  their  slow  way  over  the 
hills,  and  to  hear  their  hymns,  mellowed  by 
distance  into  a  pleasant  sound  across  the  broad 
Rhine.  From  Germany,  Belgium,  Holland, 
France,  Hungary,  and  even  Switzerland  and 
Italy  they  come,  and  during  the  whole  of 
their  journeys  the  pilgrims  sing  and  pray 
almost  continually.  The  accomplishment  of 
their  pilgrimages  entitles  them,  by  payment 
of  a  small  offering,  to  certain  absolutions  and 
indulgences.  The  pure-minded  peasant  girl 
seeks  remission  of  sins,  the  foodless  peasant 
a  liberty  to  eat  what  the  expenses  of  this  pil- 
grimage will  perhaps  deprive  him  of  the 
means  of  obtaining.  The  city  is  literally 
packed  with  pilgrims,  and  the  scene  in  the 
market-place  at  nightfall  is  in  the  highest 
degree  interesting  and  picturesque. 

"  The  Holy  Coat  of  Treves  "  is  a  simple 

21  1 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tunic,  apparently  of  linen  or  cotton,  of  a  fabric 
similar  to  the  closely  woven  mummy-cloth  of 
the  Egyptians.  Undoubtedly  it  is  of  great 
antiquity,  which  many  sacred  reliques  may 
or  may  not  be,  judging  from  their  appear- 
ances. In  appearance  it  is  precisely  the  same 
as  is  that  worn  by  the  modern  Arab. 

This  form  of  tunic,  then,  has  come  down 
from  the  ages  with  but  little  change  in  the 
fashions,  and  seems  to  be  worn  by  all  classes 
in  the  East.  In  colour  the  relic  may  orig- 
inally have  been  blue,  though  now  of  course 
it  is  much  faded;   in  fact,  is  a  rusty  brown. 

The  history  of  this  holy  robe,  according  to 
a  Professor  Marx,  who  wrote  an  account  of  it 
which  had  the  approval  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Treves,  is  authenticated  as  far  back  as  1 157 
by  written  testimony,  it  having  been  men- 
tioned as  then  existing  in  the  cathedral  of 
Treves  by  Frederick  I.  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  Hillen,  Archbishop  of  Treves  in  that  year. 
Its  earliest  history  depends  wholly  on  tradi- 
tion, which  says  that  it  was  obtained  by  the 
Empress  Helene  in  the  year  326,  while  in 
the  Holy  Land,  whither  she  went  for  the 
express  purpose  of  obtaining  relics  of  our 
Saviour  and  his  followers;  that  she  gave  it 
to  the  see  of  Treves,  and  that  it  was  deposited 

212 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

in  the  cathedral  of  that  city;  that  it  was  after- 
ward lost,  having  been  hidden  in  disturbed 
times  within  the  walls  of  the  cathedral,  and 
rediscovered  under  the  i\rchbishop  John  I., 
in  1 1 96 ;  that  it  was  again  hidden  for  the  same 
reason,  brought  to  light,  and  exposed  to  the 
wondering  multitude  in  15 12,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  famous  Diet  of  Treves,  under  the  Em- 
peror Maximilian.  "  Since  this  last  epoch," 
says  the  author  of  the  work  already  quoted, 
"  the  history  of  the  Holy  Robe  has  been  often 
discussed,  written,  and  sung,  because  it  has 
been  often  publicly  exposed,  and  at  short  in- 
tervals, whenever  political  troubles  have  not 
prevented." 

At  Treves  is  an  ancient  tomb  to  Cardinal 
Ivo,  with  heavily  sculptured  capitals  sur- 
mounting four  small  columns,  whose  pedestals 
are  crouching  lions.  But  for  the  crudity  of 
the  sculpture,  and  the  weird  beasts  at  its  base, 
one  might  almost  think  the  tomb  a  Renais- 
sance work. 

The  cardinal  died  in  1142,  and  the  work 
is  unquestionably  of  the  Romanesque  period. 
It  is  reminiscent,  moreover,  of  the  southern 
portal  of  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  of 
Embrun  in  the  south  of  France;  indeed,  a 
drawing  of  one  might  well  pass  for  the  other 

213 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

were  it  not  labelled,  though  to  be  sure  there 
is  a  distinct  difference  in  detail. 

Among  the  treasures  of  Treves  is  a  censer, 
one  of  the  most  elaborate  ever  devised.  It 
is  in  the  form  of  an  ample  bowl,  with  its  cover 
worked  in  silver  in  the  form  of  a  church 
on  the  lines  of  a  Greek  cross.  The  device  is 
most  unusual,  but  rather  clumsily  ornate. 

There  are  two  curious  statues  in  the  portal 
of  Notre  Dame;  one  representing  the  Church 
and  the  other  the  synagogue;  the  one  with  a 
clear,  straightforward  look  in  her  eyes,  the 
other  blindfolded  and  with  the  crown  falling 
from  her  head.  The  symbol  is  frequently 
met  with,  but  the  method  of  indicating  the 
opposition  of  the  new  religious  law  to  that 
of  the  old  is,  in  these  life-size  statues,  at 
Treves,  perhaps  unique.  The  figures  are 
somewhat  mutilated,  each  lacking  the  arms, 
but  in  other  respects  they  stand  as  originally 
conceived. 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre  et  Ste.  Helene 
is  situated  in  the  most  elevated  portion  of  the 
city,  and,  like  the  cathedral  at  Bonn,  above 
Cologne,  presents  that  curious  pyramidal  ef- 
fect so  often  remarked  in  Rhenish  churches. 

There  is  no  very  great  beauty  in  the  out- 
lines of  this  church,  which  is  a  curious  jumble 

214 


-^ 


'T^REVLb     L/v  i  wLDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

of  towers  and  turrets ;  but  there  are  some  very 
good  architectural  details,  quite  worthy  of  a 
more  splendid  edifice.  Ste.  Helene,  the 
mother  of  Constantine,  herself  placed  the 
first  stone  in  the  easterly  portion  of  the  pres- 
ent church,  a  fact  which  was  only  discovered 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  founda- 
tions were  being  repaired.  It  is  supposed 
originally  to  have  been  a  part  of  the  palace 
of  the  Empress  Helene,  afterward  converted 
into  a  house  of  God. 

One  notes  in  the  interior  a  remarkably 
beautiful  series  of  Corinthian  columns  with 
elaborately  carved  capitals  of  the  eleventh 
century.  In  later  years  these  have  been 
flanked  by  supporting  pillars  which  detract 
exceedingly  from  the  beauty  of  the  earlier 
forms. 

In  parts  the  edifice  is  frankly  French 
Gothic,  Byzantine,  and  what  we  know  else- 
where as  Norman,  —  a  species  of  the  Roman- 
esque. 

In  1717  the  church  suffered  considerably 
by  fire,  but  it  was  repaired  forthwith,  and 
to-day  gives  the  effect  of  a  fairly  well  cared 
for  building  of  three  naves  and  a  double 
choir. 

There  are  sixteen  altars,  some  of  which  are 
215 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


modern,   and   two  organs,  cased   as  usual   in 
hideous  mahogany. 


•  PULPIT 
TRLVE5 

The  high  altar  and  the  pulpit  are  excel- 
lently sculptured,  and  there  are  some  notable 
monuments  to  former  archbishops  and  elect- 
ors. 

216 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Beneath  the  church  are  vast  subterranean 
passages,  and  a  great  vault  where  repose  the 
ancient  regents  of  the  province. 

Architecturally,  Treves's  other  remarkable 
church  (Notre  Dame)  quite  rivals  the  cathe- 
dral itself  in  interest.  It  is  one  of  the  best 
examples  of  German  mediaeval  architecture 
extant. 

In  the  year  1227  when  St.  Gereon's  at  Co- 
logne, one  of  the  earliest  examples  of  ogival 
vaulting  in  Germany,  was  just  finished,  there 
was  commenced  the  church  of  Notre  Dame 
at  Treves.  It  was  the  first  church  edifice  in 
Germany  to  consistently  carry  out  the  Gothic 
motive  from  the  foundation  stones  upward. 

For  fifty  years  the  well-defined  Gothic  had 
been  knocking  at  the  gateway  which  led  from 
France  into  Germany,  and  at  last  it  was  to 
enter  at  a  period  when  the  cathedrals  at  Sois- 
sons  and  Laon  had  already  established  them- 
selves as  well-nigh  perfect  examples  of  the 
new  style. 

The  first  foundation  stone  was  laid  in  1227, 
and  the  work  was  completed  in  less  than 
twenty  years.  The  general  plan  is  grandiose 
and  it  has  a  central  cupola  —  replacing  a 
tower  which  was  in  danger  of  subsiding  — 
held  aloft  by  twelve  hardy  columns,  on  which 

217 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

are  ranged  in  symmetrical  order  statues  of 
the  apostles. 

The  plan  is  unusual  and  resembles  no 
Gothic  structure  elsewhere,  hence  may  be 
considered  as  a  type  standing  by  itself. 

The  exterior  shows  little  or  nothing  of  the 
highly  developed  Gothic  which  awaits  one 
when  viewing  the  interior.  There  are  no 
flying  buttresses,  the  walls  seemingly  support- 
ing themselves,  and  yet  they  are  not  clumsy. 
The  piers  of  the  chapel  somewhat  perform 
the  functions  of  buttresses,  and  that  perhaps 
makes  possible  the  unusual  arrangement. 

The  church  of  St.  Gangolphe,  on  the 
market-place,  has  a  singularly  beautiful  and 
very  lofty  tower,  which  gives  to  whoever  has 
the  courage  to  make  its  rather  perilous  ascent 
one  of  the  most  charming  prospects  of  the 
valley  of  the  Moselle  possible  to  imagine. 

The  chief  of  Treves's  other  churches  are: 
the  church  of  the  Jesuits,  since  ceded  to  the 
Protestants;  St.  Gervais,  which  has  a  tomb 
to  Bishop  Hontheim,  a  most  learned  man  and 
a  great  benefactor  of  Treves  in  days  gone  by; 
St.  Antoine;    and  St.  Paul. 

The  country  around  Treves,  on  the  Moselle, 
—  the  famous  Treves  Circle,  —  ranks  high  as 
a  wine-growing  region,  though  your  true  Ger- 

218 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

man  wine-drinker  calls  all  Moselle  wine 
"  Unnosel  Wein." 

These  wines  of  the  Moselle  are,  to  be  sure, 
secondary  to  those  of  the  vineyards  of  the 
Rhine  and  the  Main,  but  the  varieties  are  very 
numerous. 

A  Dutch  burgomaster  once  bought  of  the 
Abbey  of  Maximinus  —  a  famous  wine-grow- 
ing establishment  as  well  as  a  religious  com- 
munity—  a  variety  known  as  Gruenhaiiser, 
in  1793,  for  eleven  hundred  and  forty-four 
florins  a  vat  of  something  less  than  three  hun- 
dred gallons.  It  was  known  as  the  nectar  of 
Moselle,  and  "  made  men  cheerful,  and  did 
good  the  next  day,  leaving  the  bosom  and 
head  without  disorder."  Such  was  the  old- 
time  monkish  estimate  and  endorsement  of 
its  virtues. 


219 


XXIII 

BONN 

Bonn  in  the  popular  mind  is  noteworthy 
chiefly  for  its  famous  university,  and  for  being 
the  birthplace  of  Beethoven. 

The  city  was  one  of  the  fifty  fortresses  built 
by  Drusus  on  the  Rhine,  and  the  only  Rhenish 
city,  with  the  exception  of  Cologne,  which  has 
kept  its  Roman  appellation.  It  is  mentioned 
by  Tacitus  both  as  Bonna  and  Boneiisia  castra. 

The  cathedral  is  as  famous  as  the  univer- 
sity. It  was  founded  by  the  mother  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  who,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, consecrated  the  primitive  church  here 
in  319. 

Really,  it  is  not  a  very  stupendous  pile,  the 
present  cathedral,  but  it  looks  far  more  impos- 
ing than  it  really  is  by  reason  of  its  massive 
central  tower  and  steeple. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  most  re- 
markable of  the  cathedrals  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine. 

220 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  effect  of  its  five  towers  is  that  of  a  great 
pyramid  rising  skyward  from  a  broad  base. 

In  the  main,  it  is  a  construction  of  the 
twelfth    and    thirteenth    centuries,    but    it    is 


known  beyond  doubt  that  the  choir  and  the 
crypt  were  built  in  r  r  157.  To-day  there  are 
visible  no  traces  of  even  the  foundations  of 
the  primitive  church. 

There  are  two  polygonal  apsides,  more  no- 
ticeable from  without  than  within. 

221 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  main  portal,  or  the  most  elaborate  at 
least,  is  that  of  the  north  fagade. 

The  interior  is  not  as  sombre  and  sad  as 
is  often  the  case  with  a  very  early  church. 
To  enter,  one  ascends  eight  steps  to  the  pave- 
ment, when  the  rather  shallow  vista  of  the 
nave  and  choir  opens  out  broadly. 

There  are  a  series  of  white  marble  statues 
representing  the  birth  and  baptism  of  Christ, 
and  some  paintings  of  notable  merit,  including 
an  "  Adoration." 

In  the  crypt,  already  mentioned,  are  the 
bones  of  the  martyrs,  Cassius,  Florentinus,  and 
Malusius. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  interior,  outside 
of  the  constructive  elements  of  the  fabric,  cen- 
tres in  a  great  statue  of  St.  Helene  in  bronze, 
which  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  grand 
nave.  It  is  a  fine  monument,  and  was  cast 
in  the  seventeenth  century  as  a  somewhat  tardy 
recognition  of  the  founder  of  the  church  at 
Bonn. 

At  the  western  extremity  of  the  nave  is  the 
Gothic  tomb  of  Archbishop  Englebert,  and 
another  of  Archbishop  Robert. 

The  choir  is  somewhat  raised  above  the 
pavement  of  the  nave,  being  placed  upon  the 
vaulting  of  the  crypt.    The  walls  of  the  choir 

222 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

are  hung  with  gilded  Cordovan  leather,  which 
is  certainly  rich  and  beautiful,  though  it  has 
been  criticized  as  being  more  suitable  to  a 
boudoir  than  a  great  church. 

At  the  foot  of  the  choir,  to  the  right,  is  a 
tabernacle,  a  feature  frequently  met  with  in 
German  churches.  It  is  of  Renaissance  design 
and  workmanship,  and  is  ungainly  and  not  in 
the  best  of  taste. 

Behind  the  great  pillars  of  the  choir  are 
found,  back  to  back,  two  imposing  altars,  to 
which  access  is  had  by  mounting  a  dozen  more 
steps,  far  above  the  pavement  of  the  nave. 
They  are  most  peculiarly  disposed,  and  are 
again  a  Renaissance  interpolation  which 
might  well  have  been  omitted. 

In  this  dimly  lighted  cathedral,  as  well  as 
in  many  other  churches  of  Germany,  you  may 
at  times  hear  that  hymn  known  as  "  Ratisbon," 
the  words  of  which  begin: 

"  Jesus  meine  Zuversicht 
Lebt^  und  ich  soil  mit  ihm  leben.^* 

There  is  a  legend  —  or  it  may  be  a  true  tale 
- —  connecting  these  verses  with  a  German  sol- 
dier who  died  at  the  fateful  battle  of  Jena. 

Fleeing  from  the  French,  he  had  fallen  into 

223 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  waters  of  the  Saale.  Recovering  himself, 
he  crawled  out,  only  to  find  his  pursuers  on 
the  bank,  their  firearms  levelled  at  his  head. 
His  first  thought  was  to  thank  God  for  his 
safety  from  the  flood,  and,  kneeling,  he  played 
upon  his  bugle  the  familiar  air  to  which  the 
hymn,  ''Jesus  meine  Zuversicht,"  is  sung. 
Deeply  moved,  his  pursuers  dropped  their 
guns,  but,  just  as  the  last  notes  of  the  tune  were 
dying  away,  another  detachment  came  up,  and 
one  of  its  members  fired  a  shot  which  ended 
the  life  of  the  devout  Prussian. 

There  is  heard  here  also  a  legend,  of  the 
time  of  the  Crusades,  concerning  the  Sieben- 
gebergen,  —  the  Seven  Mountains,  —  which 
lie  just  back  of  Bonn. 

Stimulated  by  religious  fervour,  the  over- 
lord of  a  castle  perched  upon  one  of  the  Seven 
Mountains,  enlisted  in  the  army  of  the  Cru- 
saders, and  fought  gallantly  in  the  very  fore- 
front of  those  who  sought  to  plant  the  Cross 
upon  the  walls  of  the  Holy  City.  After  a 
prolonged  absence,  he  returned  to  find  that  a 
rival  had  won  the  love  of  his  lady,  who,  to 
escape  his  wrath,  had  fled  to  a  convent. 

The  usurper  of  afifections  escaped,  but  the 
injured  husband  met  near  Godesberg,  in  his 
old  age,  a  youth  in  whom  he  thought  he  recog- 

224 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rltine 

nized  the  likeness  of  his  wife.  Questioning 
the  boy,  he  visited  the  sin  of  the  mother  upon 
the  child,  and  slew  him  on  the  highroad,  on 
the  spot  where  the  Hoch  Kreuz  now  stands, 
—  a  monument  which  tradition  says  was 
erected  to  warn  weak  wives  and  faithless 
friends. 

Drachenfels,  whose  fame  to  English  ears 
has  mostly  been  made  by  Byron's  verses,  lies 
not  far  south  of  Bonn.  Byron's  "  peasant  girls 
with  deep  blue  eyes  "  are  mostly  engaged  in 
husbandry  to-day,  instead  of  poetically  and 
leisurely  gathering  "  early  flowers." 

"The  castled  crag  of  Drachenfels 
Frowns  o'er  the  wide  and  winding  Rhine," 

and  is  still  one  of  the  tourist  sights  of  the 
Rhine,  and  as  such  it  must  be  accorded  its 
place. 

Bonn  was  formerly  the  residence  of  the 
Electors  of  Cologne,  after  their  removal  from 
that  city  in  1268,  at  which  time  it  was  also 
the  shelter  of  Archbishop  Englebert,  who  had 
fled  from  Cologne. 


225 


XXIV 

GODESBERG  AND  ROLANDSECK 
Godesberg 

Within  full  view  of  the  Seven  Mountains, 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Rhine,  is  Godes- 
berg, —  "a  cheerful  village  with  a  castle 
which  is  a  splendid  ruin,"  say  the  guide-books. 

They  might  go  a  bit  further  and  recount 
something  of  its  political  and  religious  his- 
tory, although  usually  they  do  not,  but  rush 
the  tourist  up-river  to  Coblenz,  giving  him 
only  a  sort  of  panoramic  view  of  this  portion 
of  the  Rhine. 

Originally  a  castellum  romain,  the  "  cheer- 
ful village,"  known  to  the  ancients  as  Ara 
Ubiorum,  came  under  the  control,  in  1210, 
of  the  Archbishop  Theodoric  of  Cologne,  who 
built  a  chapel  to  St.  Michael  on  the  ancient 
ruins,  which,  according  to  tradition,  had  en- 
dured from  the  times  of  Julian  the  Apostate. 

226 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

For  many  centuries  there  was  a  chateau  here 
which  served  as  the  country-house  of  many 
of  the  archbishop-electors  of  the  Empire,  un- 
til destroyed  by  a  thunderbolt.  In  1593  it 
was  pillaged  by  the  troops  of  the  Archbishop 
Ernest,  and  to-day  only  a  great,  lone,  round 
tower  remains  intact. 

For  the  rest  it  is  a  fine  ruin  and  a  pictur- 
esque one. 

Rolandseck 

But  a  short  distance  above  Godesberg  is  Ro- 
landseck; opposite  which  is  the  island  of 
Nonnenwerth,  with  which  it  is  associated  in 
a  famous  legend. 

The  chivalrous  Roland  sought  the  love  of  , 
some  fair  being,  whose  beauty  and  whose  vir-  (/ 
tues  should  deserve  and  retain  the  heart  of  so 
brave  and  gallant  a  young  knight.  Nor  did 
he  look  about  in  vain,  for  Hilda,  the  daughter 
of  the  lord  of  the  Drachenfels,  was  all  that 
dreams  had  pictured  to  his  youthful  fancy 
as  worthy  of  an  ardent  soul's  devotion,  and 
soon  he  was  made  happy  by  a  confession  from 
the  maiden  that  his  passion  was  returned. 
Lost  in  a  dream  of  first  love,  the  knight  for- 
got the  world  and  its  struggles,  and,  in  the 
expectation  of  an  early  day  for  his  wedding 
227 


/ 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

with  his  mistress,  he  lived  a  life  of  perfect 
joy,  —  now  gazing  with  Hilda  upon  the  wind- 
ings of  the  Rhine;  now  watching  her  as  she 
stooped  gracefully  to  tend  the  flowers  which 
peace  allowed  to  flourish  under  the  walls  of 
her  father's  stronghold. 

But  Roland  lived  in  times  when  love  was 
but  the  bright,  transient  episode  of  a  life  of 
war.  The  laws  of  chivalry  forbade  a  true 
knight's  neglect  of  duty,  and,  in  the  very  week 
in  which  he  was  to  be  wedded,  the  summons 
came  for  him  to  take  the  field. 

The  war  was  long,  and  it  was  three  years 
before  Roland  left  the  camp.  When  he 
reached  the  home  of  his  mistress,  he  received 
a  frightful  welcome.  The  castle  was  in  ruins ; 
its  lord  was  slain;  and  Hilda,  deceived  by 
reports  of  Roland's  death,  had  taken  the  veil 
in  the  neighbouring  convent  of  Nonnenwerth! 

Over  the  bright  path  of  the  young  knight 
a  dark  and  lasting  shadow  was  cast.  His 
early  hopes  were  shattered;  the  joy  of  his 
existence  had  fled;  his  spirit  bent  beneath  the 
weight  of  his  evil  fortune.  But  his  faith  and 
constancy  were  beyond  the  control  of  Fate. 
Retiring  to  his  castle  of  Rolandseck,  he  made 
himself  a  seat  within  a  window^,  from  which 
he  could  look  down  upon  the  island  of  Non- 
228 


./..■/.fe*' 


WONAIErjWERTff  ' 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

nenwerth  and  the  convent  that  held  his  be- 
loved Hilda.  Whether  she  heard  of  his  re- 
turn tradition  does  not  say;  but  the  rumour 
of  such  constancy  was  perhaps  wafted  through 
the  nunnery  walls.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is 
chronicled  that,  after  Roland's  watch  had  been 
for  three  years  prolonged,  he  heard  one  eve- 
ning the  tones  of  the  bell  that  tolled  for  a 
passing  soul,  and  next  day  the  white  figures 
of  the  nuns  were  seen  bearing  a  sister  to  her 
last  home.    It  was  the  funeral  of  Hilda. 

The  isle  of  Nonnenwerth  and  its  convent 
are  still  there  opposite  the  grim,  gaunt,  ruined 
gateway  of  Rolandseck,  a  brilliant  jewel  in 
an  antique  setting;  and,  while  neither  the  con- 
ventual buildings  nor  the  ruined  chateau  show 
any  unusual  architectural  features,  they  are 
characteristic  of  the  feudal  and  religious  ar- 
chitecture of  the  middle  ages. 

Architects  of  to-day  do  not  build  with  the 
same  simplicity  and  grace  that  they  did  of 
old,  and  these  little  out-of-the-way  gems  of 
architecture  are  far  more  satisfying  than  are 
similar  erections  of  to-day. 


231 


XXV 

COLOGNE  AND   ITS  CATHEDRAL 

No  Stranger  ever  yet  entered  Cologne  with- 
out going  straight  to  see  its  mighty  Gothic 
cathedraL  Three  things  come  to  him  forcibly, 
—  the  fact  that  it  was  only  completed  in  recent 
years,  the  great  and  undecided  question  as  to 
who  may  have  been  its  architect,  and  the 
"  Legend  of  the  Builder,"  as  the  story  is 
known. 

There  are  two  legends  of  the  cathedral  and 
its  builders  which  no  visitor  will  ever  forget. 

The  Architect  of  Cologne 

Mighty  was  Archbishop  Conrad  de  Hoch- 
steden,  for  he  was  lord  over  the  chief  city 
of  the  Rhine,  the  city  of  Cologne;  but  his 
thoughts  were  troubled,  and  his  heart  was 
heavy,  for,  though  his  churches  were  rich 
beyond  compare  in  relics,  yet  other  towns  not 
half  so  large  or  powerful  as  his  had  cathedrals 
whose  fame  extended  over  Europe,  and  whose 

232 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

beauty  brought  pilgrims  to  their  shrines,  profit 
to  the  ecclesiastics,  and  business  to  the  towns- 
people. After  many  sleepless  nights,  there- 
fore, he  determined  to  add  to  his  city  the  only 
thing  wanting  to  complete  it,  and,  sending  for 
the  most  famous  architect  of  the  time,  he  com- 
missioned him  to  draw  the  plans  for  a  cathe- 
dral of  Cologne. 

Now  the  architect  was  a  clever  man,  but 
he  was  more  vain  than  clever.  He  had  a 
vague  idea  of  the  magnificence  which  he  de- 
sired to  achieve  without  a  clear  conception 
of  how  he  was  to  do  it,  or  without  the  will 
to  make  the  necessary  sacrifices  of  labour,  care, 
and  perseverance.  He  received  the  commis- 
sion with  great  gladness,  and  gloat^ed  for  some 
days  upon  the  fame  which  would  be  his  as 
the  builder  of  the  structure  which  the  arch- 
bishop desired;  but  when,  after  this  vision  jf 
glory,  he  took  his  crayons  to  sketch  out  the 
design,  he  was  thrown  into  the  deepest  de- 
spondency. He  drew  and  drew,  and  added, 
and  erased,  and  corrected,  and  began  again, 
but  still  did  not  succeed.  Not  a  plan  could 
he  complete.  Some  were  too  mean,  others 
too  extravagant,  and  others,  when  done  and 
examined,  were  found  to  be  good,  but  not 
original.    Efforts  of  memory  instead  of  imagi- 

233 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

nation,  their  points  of  excellence  were  but 
copies  of  other  cathedrals,  —  a  tower  from 
one,  a  spire  from  another,  an  aisle  from  a 
third,  and  an  altar  from  a  fourth;  and  one 
after  another  they  were  cast  aside  as  imperfect 
and  useless,  until  the  draughtsman,  more  than 
half-crazed,  felt  inclined  to  end  his  troubles 
and  perplexities  by  a  plunge  into  the  Rhine. 
In  this  mood  of  more  than  half-despair,  he 
wandered  down  to  the  river's  edge,  and,  seat- 
ing himself  upon  a  stone,  began  to  draw  in 
the  sand  with  a  measuring  rod,  which  served 
as  a  walking-stick,  the  outlines  of  various  parts 
of  a  church.  Ground-plans,  towers,  finials, 
brackets,  windows,  columns,  appeared  one 
after  another,  traced  by  the  point  of  his  wand ; 
but  all,  one  after  another,  were  erased  as  un- 
equal and  insufficient  for  the  purpose,  and 
Y  unworthy  to  form  a  part  of  the  design  for  a 
cathedral  of  Cologne.     Turning  around,  the 

■"\         architect  was  aware  that  another  person  was 
\  ... 

beside  him,  and,  with  surprise,  the  disap- 
pointed draughtsman  saw  that  the  stranger 
also  was  busily  making  a  design.  Rapidly 
on  the  sand  he  sketched  the  details  of  a  most 
magnificent  building,  its  towers  rising  to  the 
clouds,  its  long  aisles  and  lofty  choir  stretch- 
ing away  before  the  eye  of  the  startled  archi- 

234 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tect,  who  mentally  confessed  that  it  was  indeed 
a  temple  worthy  of  the  Most  High.  The  win- 
dows were  enriched  by  tracery  such  as  artist 
never  had  before  conceived,  and  the  lofty  col- 
umns reared  their  tall  length  toward  a  roof 
which  seemed  to  claim  kindred  with  the 
clouds,  and  to  equal  the  firmament  in  expanse 
and  beauty.  But  each  section  of  this  long- 
sought  plan  vanished  the  moment  it  was  seen, 
and,  with  a  complete  conviction  of  its  excel- 
lence, the  architect  was  unable  to  remember 
a  single  line. 

"  Your  sketch  is  excellent,"  said  he  to  the 
unknown ;  "  it  is  what  I  have  thought  and 
dreamed  of,  —  what  I  have  sought  for  and 
wished  for,  and  have  not  been  able  to  find. 
Give  it  to  me  on  paper,  and  I  will  pay  you 
twenty  gold  pieces." 

"Twenty  pieces!  ha!  ha!  twenty  gold 
pieces !  "  laughed  the  stranger.  "  Look  here !  " 
and  from  a  doublet  that  did  not  seem  big 
enough  to  hold  half  the  money,  he  drew  forth 
a  purse  that  certainly  held  a  thousand. 

The  night  had  closed  in,  and  the  architect 
was  desperate.  "  If  money  cannot  tempt  you, 
fear  shall  force  you;  "  and,  springing  toward 
the  stranger,  he  plucked  a  dagger  from  his 
girdle,  and  held  its  point  close  to  the  breast 

235 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

of  the  mysterious  draughtsman.  Jn  a  moment 
his  wrists  were  pinioned,  as  with  the  grasp 
of  a  vise,  and  squeezed  until  he  dropped  his 
weapon  and  shrieked  in  agony.  Falling  on 
the  sands,  he  writhed  like  an  eel  upon  the 
fisherman's  hook;  but  plunged  and  struggled 
in  vain.  When  nearly  fainting,  he  felt  him- 
self thrown  helpless  upon  the  very  brink  of 
the  stream. 

"There!  revive,  and  be  reasonable.  Learn 
that  gold  and  steel  have  no  power  over  me. 
You  want  my  cathedral,  for  it  would  bring 
you  honour,  fame,  and  profit;  and  you  can 
have  it  if  you  choose." 

"How?  — tell  me  how?" 

"  By  signing  this  parchment  with  your 
blood." 

"  Avaunt,  fiend!"  shrieked  the  architect; 
"  in  the  name  of  the  Saviour  I  bid  thee  be- 
gone." And  so  saying,  he  made  the  sign  of 
the  cross;  and  the  Evil  One  (for  it  was  he) 
was  forced  to  vanish  before  the  holy  symbol. 
He  had  time,  however,  to  mutter:  "You'll 
come  for  the  plan  at  midnight  to-morrow." 

The  architect  staggered  home,  half-dead 
with  contending  passions,  and  muttering: 
"  Sell  my  soul,"  "  To-morrow  at  midnight," 
"  Honour  and  fame,"  and  other  words  which 

236 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

told  the  struggle  going  on  within  his  soul. 
When  he  reached  his  lodgings,  he  met  the  only 
servant  he  had  going  out  wrapped  in  her 
cloak. 

"And  where  are  you  going  so  late?"  sa^id 
her  surprised  master. 

"  To  a  mass  for  a  soul  in  purgatory,"  was 
the  reply. 

"Oh,  horror!  horror!  no  mass  will  avail 
me.  To  everlasting  torments  shall  I  be 
doomed;  "  and,  hurrying  to  his  room,  he  cast 
himself  down  with  tears  of  remorse,  irreso- 
lution, and  despair.  In  this  state  his  old 
housekeeper  discovered  him  on  her  return 
from  her  holy  errand,  and,  her  soul  being 
full  of  charity  and  kindly  religion,  she  begged 
to  know  what  had  caused  such  grief;  and 
spoke  of  patience  in  suffering,  and  pardon  by 
repentance.  Her  words  fell  upon  the  disor- 
dered ear  of  the  architect  with  a  heavenly 
comfort;   and  he  told  her  what  had  passed. 

"Mercy  me!"  was  her  exclamation. 
"  Tempted  by  the  fiend  himself !— so  strongly, 
too!"  and,  so  saying,  she  left  the  chamber 
without  another  word,  and  hurried  oflp  to  her 
confessor. 

Now  the  confessor  of  Dame  Elfrida  was 
the  friend  of  the  abbot,  and  the  abbot  was  the 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tlie  Rhine 

constant  counsellor  of  the  archbishop,  and  so 
soon  as  the  housekeeper  spoke  of  the  wonder- 
ful plan,  he  told  her  he  would  soon  see  her 
master,  and  went  at  once  to  his  superior.  This 
dignitary  immediately  pictured  to  himself  the 
host  of  pilgrims  that  would  seek  a  cathedral 
built  with  skill  from  such  wonderful  sketches, 
and  (hoping  himself  one  day  to  be  arch- 
bishop) he  hurried  ofif  to  the  bewildered  ar- 
chitect. 

He  found  him  still  in  bed,  and  listened  with 
surprise  to  the  glowing  account  of  the  demon's 
plan. 

"  And  would  it  be  equal  to  all  this?  " 

"  It  would." 

"  Could  you  build  it?  " 

"  I  could." 

"  Would  not  pilgrims  come  to  worship  in 
such  a  cathedral?  " 

"  By  thousands." 

"Listen,  my  son!  Go  at  midnight  to  the 
appointed  spot;  take  this  relic  with  you;" 
and,  so  saying,  the  abbot  gave  him  a  bone  of 
one  of  the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins.  "  Agree 
to  the  terms  for  the  design  you  have  so  long 
desired,  and  when  you  have  got  it,  and  the 
Evil  One  presents  the  parchment  for  your 
signature,  show  this  sacred  bone." 

238 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhme 

After  long  pondering,  the  priest's  advice 
was  taken;  and,  in  the  gloom  of  night,  the 
architect  hurried  tremblingly  to  the  place  of 
meeting.  True  to  his  time,  the  fiend  was  there, 
and,  with  a  smile,  complimented  the  architect 
on  his  punctuality.  Drawing  from  his  doublet 
two  parchments,  he  opened  one,  on  which  was 
traced  the  outline  of  the  cathedral,  and  then 
another  written  in  some  mysterious  character, 
and  having  a  space  left  for  a  signature. 

"  Let  me  examine  what  I  am  to  pay  so 
dearly  for." 

"  Most  certainly,"  said  the  demon,  with  a 
smile,  and  a  bow  that  would  have  done  honour 
to  the  court  of  the  emperor. 

Pressing  it  with  one  hand  to  his  breast,  the 
architect  with  the  other  held  up  the  holy  bone, 
and  exclaimed :  "  Avaunt,  fiend !  In  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Vir- 
gins of  Cologne,  I  hold  thee,  Satan,  in  defi- 
ance; "  and  he  described  the  sign  of  the  cross 
directly  against  the  devil's  face. 

In  an  instant  the  smile  and  the  graceful 
civility  were  gone.  With  a  hideous  grin, 
Satan  approached  the  sacred  miracle  as 
though  he  would  have  strangled  the  possessor; 
and,  yelling  with  a  sound  that  woke  half  the 
sleepers   in  Cologne,  he  skipped   round   and 

239 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

round  the  architect.  Still,  however,  the  plan 
was  held  tightly  with  one  hand,  and  the  relic 
held  forward  like  a  swordsman's  rapier  with 
the  other.  As  the  fiend  turned,  so  turned  the 
architect;  until,  bethinking  himself  that  an- 
other prayer  would  help  him,  he  called  loudly 
on  St.  Ursula.  The  demon  could  keep  up  the 
fight  no  longer;  the  leader  of  the  Eleven 
Thousand  Virgins  was  too  much  for  him. 

"  None  but  a  confessor  could  have  told  you 
how  to  cheat  me,"  he  shrieked  in  a  most  ter- 
rible voice;  "but  I  will  be  revenged.  You 
have  a  more  wonderful  and  perfect  design 
than  ever  entered  the  brain  of  man.  You 
want  fame,  —  the  priest  wants  a  church  and 
pilgrims.  Listen!  That  cathedral  shall  never 
be  finished,  and  your  name  shall  be  forgot- 
ten! " 

As  the  dreadful  words  broke  upon  the  ar- 
chitect's ear,  the  cloak  of  the  Tempter 
stretched  out  into  huge  black  wings,  which 
flapped  over  the  spot  like  two  dark  thunder- 
clouds, and  with  such  violence  that  the  winds 
were  raised  from  their  slumber,  and  a  storm 
rose  upon  the  waters  of  the  Rhine.  Hurrying 
homewards,  the  relic  raised  at  arm's  length 
over  his  head,  the  frightened  man  reached  the 
abbot's  house  in  safety.    But  the  ominous  sen- 

2-10 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tence  still  rang  in  his  ears,  —  "  Unfinished  and 
forgotten." 

Days,  months,  years  passed  by,  and  the  ca- 
thedral, commenced  with  vigour,  was  growing 
into  form.  The  architect  had  long  before 
determined  that  an  inscription  should  be  en- 
graved upon  a  plate  of  brass  shaped  like  a 
cross,  and  be  fastened  upon  the  front  of  the 
first  tower  that  reached  a  good  elevation.  His 
vanity  already  anticipated  a  triumph  over  the 
Fiend  whom  he  had  defrauded.  He  was 
author  of  a  building  which  the  world  could 
not  equal,  and,  in  the  pride  of  his  heart,  de- 
fied all  evil  chances  to  deprive  him  of  fame. 
Going  to  the  top  of  the  building  to  see  where 
his  name  should  be  placed,  he  looked  over  the 
edge  of  the  building  to  decide  if  it  was  lofty 
enough  to  deserve  the  honour  of  the  inscrip- 
tion, when  the  workmen  were  aware  of  a  black 
cloud  which  suddenly  enveloped  them,  and 
burst  in  thunder  and  hail.  Looking  around, 
when  the  cloud  had  passed  away,  their  master 
was  gone!  and  one  of  them  declared  that 
amidst  the  noise  of  the  explosion  he  heard 
a  wail  of  agony  which  seemed  to  say,  ''  Unfin- 
ished and  forgotten." 

When  they  descended  the  tower,  the  body 
of  the  architect  lay  crushed  upon  the  pave- 

241 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ment.  The  traveller  who  beholds  the  building 
knows  of  the  difficulties  which  beset  its  com- 
pletion, and  thousands  have  since  then  sought 
in  vain  to  learn  the  name  of  "  The  Architect 
of  Cologne,"  although  of  late  years  —  though 
with  some  doubt  it  is  stated  —  his  name  and 
fame  appear  to  have  been  established. 

The  P  faff  en  Thor 

When  Archbishop  Conrad  of  Hochsteden, 
the  founder  of  the  cathedral,  had  been  gath- 
ered to  his  fathers,  Engelbrecht  of  Falkenberg 
reigned  over  Cologne  in  his  stead;  and  a  fear- 
ful tyrant  he  became. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  spiritual  lords  who 
ruled  over  Liege,  the  crozier  of  the  arch- 
bishop became  a  rod  of  iron  to  the  citizens, 
until  at  length  they  were  goaded  to  open  re- 
bellion. In  their  contests  for  liberty,  they 
were  led  by  Hermann  Grynn,  a  townsman 
who  had  put  aside  the  peaceful  pursuit  of  his 
trade  to  do  battle  in  the  good  cause  of  his  na- 
tive city,  and  to  maintain  the  privileges  which 
his  fathers  had  purchased,  not  only  with  their 
gold,  but  with  their  blood. 

After  numerous  contests  between  the  burgh- 
ers  and   their  oppressors,   the   cause   of   the 

242 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

many  was  triumphant,  and  the  archbishop 
was  glad  to  agree  to  terms  which  he  before 
had  spurned.  But  the  truce  he  sought  was 
hollow  and  unfaithful,  and  he  was  heard  to 
say  that,  if  Hermann  Grynn  were  removed, 
he  would  be  able  to  take  away  the  privileges 
he  had  surrendered  to  the  townsmen. 

This  treacherous  speech  was  greedily  re- 
ceived by  two  priests,  who  determined  to  ad- 
vance their  own  welfare  by  the  downfall  of 
the  citizen-patriot.  Making  the  acquaintance 
of  Hermann,  whose  honest  nature  suspected 
no  treachery,  they  wormed  themselves  into 
his  confidence,  and  at  a  fitting  opportunity 
invited  him  to  the  cathedral  to  see  its  hidden 
beauties  and  great  store  of  riches.  Leading 
him  from  chapel  to  cloister,  and  through 
chamber  after  chamber,  they  came  at  length 
to  a  door  which  they  said  contained  the  rich- 
est sight  of  all;  and  one  of  them,  unlocking 
the  door,  invited  the  citizen  to  enter.  No 
sooner  had  he  crossed  the  threshold  than  the 
thick  portal  was  closed  suddenly  upon  him, 
and,  at  the  same  moment,  he  heard  the  roar 
of  some  wild  animal,  and  saw  fixed  upon  him 
two  fierce  eyes  gleaming  with  hunger  and 
savage  rage. 

Hermann  Grynn  was  a  man  for  emergen- 
243 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

cies.  Rapidly  twisting  his  cloak  around  his 
left  arm,  and  drawing  his  short  sword,  he 
prepared  for  the  attack;  nor  had  he  long  to 
wait.  With  a  growl  of  triumph,  a  huge  ani- 
mal sprang  upon  him  with  open  jaws;  but 
with  admirable  coolness  the  hero  received  his 
assailant  upon  the  guarded  arm,  and,  whilst 
the  brute  ground  its  teeth  into  the  cloak,  he 
thrust  his  sword  into  its  heart.  Searching 
around  the  chamber,  he  was  aware  of  a  win- 
dow concealed  by  a  shutter,  and,  opening  this, 
he  looked  forth  into  the  streets,  where  a  great 
crowd  was  collected  around  a  priest,  who  went 
along  telling  some  tale  which  seemed  to  move 
the  people  to  deep  grief.  As  the  throng  drew 
nearer,  he  listened  eagerly,  and  heard  with 
surprise  "  how  the  good  burgess  Hermann 
Grynn,  the  friend  of  the  people,  and  the  well- 
beloved  ally  of  the  Church,  had  without  ad- 
vice sought  a  chamber  where  a  lion  was  in 
durance,  and  had  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  his  un- 
happy curiosity."  Burning  with  rage  and  a 
determination  to  expose  the  treachery  of  the 
priests,  he  waited  till  the  crowd  came  beneath 
the  window  from  which  he  looked;  and  then, 
dashing  the  glass  into  a  thousand  pieces,  he 
attracted  attention  to  the  spot,  and,  leaning 
half  out  of  the  opening,  displayed  his  well- 

244 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

known  cap  in  one  hand  and  his  bloody  sword 
in  the  other.  He  was  ahnost  too  high  to  be 
heard,  but  the  faint  echo  of  his  war-cry  was 
enough  to  convince  the  people  of  his  identity, 
and  with  one  voice  they  shouted :  "  To  the 
rescue!"  Forcing  their  way  into  the  cathe- 
dral, they  quickly  released  their  leader,  and, 
learning  from  him  the  story  of  cruel  treachery, 
the  two  priests  were  ferreted  from  their  hid- 
ing-places, and  hanged  by  the  neck  in  the 
room  over  the  body  of  the  dead  lion.  To  this 
day  the  portal  they  slammed  on  Hermann 
Grynn  is  know^n  as  the  Pfaffen  Tlior,--  the 
priest's  door, — whilst  over  the  gate  of  the 
venerable  town  hall  of  Cologne  may  yet  be 
seen,  graven  in  stone,  the  fight  of  the  citizen- 
patriot  with  the  hungry  lion  of  the  cathedral. 

These  two  legends  refer  solely  to  the  cathe-         -^ 
dral.     There  is,  in  addition,  the  rather  more 
familiar  one  of  "  St.  Ursula  and  the  Eleven 
Thousand  Virgins." 

And,  besides  legends,  there  is  much  real 
symbolism  that  peeps  out  wherever  one  turns. 
The  skulls  of  the  "  Three  Kings  "  still  grin 
from  under  their  crowns  in  the  cathedral,  as 
they  did  when  Frederick  Barbarossa  stormed 
Milan  and  brought  back  these  relics  of  the 

245 


V/ 


CatJiedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

three  Magi.  Beneath  the  pavement  of  the 
cathedral  lies  buried  the  heart  of  Marie  de 
Medici,  who,  in  her  fallen  fortunes,  died  at 
Sternen-Gasse  lo,  in  the  house  where  Peter 
Paul  Rubens  was  born. 

In  a  rather  roundabout  way  the  name  of 
one  great  in  letters  is  associated  with  Cologne. 
Petrarch  came  here  on  his  way  from  Avignon 
to  Paris  in  1331,  and  the  superb  beginnings 
of  the  new  cathedral  inspired  him  with  the 
most  profound  admiration.  In  a  letter  which 
he  addressed  to  his  friend  and  protector,  Jean 
Colonna,  he  said:  "  I  have  seen  in  this  city 
the  most  beautiful  temple ;  yet  incomplete,  but 
which  is  truly,  entitled  to  rank  as  a  supreme 
work." 

It  was  a  fortunate  day  for  the  history  of 
the  church  at  Cologne  when  the  Evangelist 
first  preached  the  gospel  in  the  city  of  Colonia 
Agrippina.  In  those  days  the  primitive 
church  sheltered  itself  modestly  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Roman  fortress,  whereas  to-day 
the  great  cathedral  rises,  stately  and  proud, 
high  above  the  fortification  of  the  warlike 
Teuton  —  if  he  really  be  warlike,  as  the  states- 
men of  other  nations  proclaim. 

When  Charlemagne  fixed  his  official  resi- 
dence at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  he  placed  his  impe- 

246 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

rial  palace  in  the  diocese  of  Cologne;  the  two 
cities  together,  by  reason  of  their  power  and 
importance,  standing  as  a  symbol  of  mighti- 
ness which  did  much  to  make  the  great,  un- 
wieldy dominion  of  the  Carlovingian  Em- 
peror hang  together. 

It  has  been  claimed,  and  there  certainly 
seems  some  justification  for  it,  that  the  general 
plan  of  the  cathedral  at  Cologne  is  similar  to 
that  of  Notre  Dame  d'Amiens;  there  is  some- 
thing about  the  general  scale  and  proportions 
that  makes  them  quite  akin.  Perhaps  this  is 
due  to  the  particularly  daring  combination 
of  its  lines  and  the  general  hardiness  of  its 
plan  and  outline.  These  features  are  certainly 
common  to  both  in  a  far  greater  degree  than 
are  usually  found  between  two  such  widely 
separated  examples.  At  any  rate,  it  is  per- 
haps as  safe  a  conjecture  as  any,  since  the  hand 
that  traced  the  plan  of  Cologne  is  lost  in 
doubtful  obscurity,  to  consider  that  there  is 
something  more  than  an  imaginary  bond  be- 
tween the  cathedrals  of  Amiens  and  Cologne. 

A  resemblance  still  more  to  be  remarked  is 
the  great  height  of  the  choir  and  nave.  This 
is  most  marked  at  Amiens  and  still  more  so 
at  Beauvais.  Cologne,  as  to  these  dimensions, 
ranks  between  the  two. 

247 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

There  was  once  a  Romanesque  cathedral  at 
Cologne,  but  a  fire  made  way  with  it  in  1248. 
Certain  facts  have  come  down  to  us  regard- 
ing this  earlier  building,  but  they  appear 
decidedly  contradictory,  though  undoubtedly 
it  was  an  edifice  of  the  conventional  Rhenish 
variety.  It  is  supposed  that  this  original 
cathedral  had  at  least  a  "  family  resemblance  " 
to  those  at  Mayence,  Worms,  and  Speyer. 

These  three  great  ecclesiastical  works  in  the 
Rhine  valley  mark  the  Hohenstaufen  dynasty 
as  one  of  the  most  prolific  in  German  church- 
building.  Although  they  are  not  as  beautiful 
as  one  pictures  the  perfect  cathedral  of  his 
imagination,  —  at  least  no  more  beautiful 
than  many  other  hybrid  structures,  —  they 
show  an  individuality  that  is  peculiarly  Rhen- 
ish, far  more  so  than  the  present  cathedral  at 
Cologne  or  any  of  the  smaller  churches  of  the 
region. 

After  the  fire  in  1248  a  new  cathedral  was 
planned  as  a  commensurate  shrine  in  which  to 
shelter  the  relics  of  the  "  Three  Wise  Men  of 
.  the  East,"  which  henceforth  were  to  be  known 
Xj  as  "  The  Three  Kings  of  Cologne."  From 
this  period  on,  Cologne  began  to  acquire  such 
wealth  and  prominence  as  to  mark  the  era 


248 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

as  the  "  Golden  Age  "  in  the  civic  and  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  of  the  city. 

Abandoning  the  basilica  plan  entirely,  a 
great  Gothic  church  was  undertaken.  In  its 
way  it  was  to  rival  those  Gothic  masterpieces 
of  France. 

The  origin  of  the  plan  of  the  cathedral  in 
fact,  as  well  as  in  legend,  is  vague.  Some  have 
considered  Archbishop  Engelbert,  Count  of 
Altona  and  Berg,  who  was  murdered  in  1225, 
as  the  author,  but  this  can  hardly  have  been 
so,  unless  it  were  conceived  before  the  basilica 
was  burned. 

Assiduous  research  has  been  made  from 
time  to  time  in  an  effort  to  discover  the  iden- 
tity of  the  actual  designer  of  the  present  cathe- 
dral: Archbishops  Engelbert  and  Conrad, 
Albertus  Magnus,  Meister  Gerard,  and  others 
have  all  had  the  honour  somewhat  doubtfully 
awarded  to  them  and  again  withdrawn. 

There  is  a  great  painting  exhibited  at 
Frankfort  called  "  Religion  Glorified  by  the 
Arts,"  by  Overbeck,  wherein  is  an  ideal  por- 
trait of  the  ''  Great  Unknown  of  Cologne  " 
pictured  as  the  genius  of  architecture. 

A  comparatively  recent  discovery  seems  to 
award  the  honour  to  Gerard  de  St.  Trond. 
A  charter  of  12157  makes  mention  of  the  fact 

249 


Cathedrals  a^td  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

that  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral  had  given 
a  house,  for  services  rendered,  to  one  Gerard, 
"  a  stone-cutter,"  who  had  directed  the  work 
of  construction ;  this  gift  being  made  some 
years  after  the  foundations  were  first  laid. 

The  same  architect  figures  among  the  bene- 
factors of  the  hospital  of  St.  Ursula  as  "  the 
master  of  the  works  at  the  cathedral."  Per- 
haps, then,  the  name  of  Gerard  de  St.  Trond 
deserves  to  be  placed  with  that  of  Libergier, 
the  designer  of  Reims,  the  greatest  Gothic 
splendour  of  France. 

Engelbert's  successor,  Conrad  of  Hoch- 
steden,  furthered  the  plans,  whoever  may  have 
been  their  creator,  and  work  on  the  new  edi- 
fice was  begun  a  few  months  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  older  one. 

On  August  14,  1248,  the  foundation-stone 
of  the  new  structure  was  laid,  forty-four  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

The  portion  first  erected  was  the  choir,  and 
for  ages  it  stood,  as  it  stands  in  its  completed 
form  to-day,  as  perfect  an  example  of  the  style 
of  its  period  as  is  extant. 

For  seventy  years  this  choir  was  taking 
form,  until  it  was  consecrated  on  September 
27,  1322. 

The  occasion  was  a  great  one  for  Cologne 
250 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

and  for  the  church.  The  ceremony  was  at- 
tended by  much  glitter  and  pomp,  both  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil. 

No  sooner  was  the  choir  completed  than  it 
was  embellished  as  befitted  the  shrine  of  the 
three  kings. 

Coloured  glass,  stone,  and  wood-carving, 
and  the  art  of  the  gold  and  jewel  smith  all 
blended  to  give  a  magnificence  to  the  whole 
which  was  perhaps  unapproachable  elsewhere 
at  the  time. 

Then,  for  a  time,  enthusiasm  and  labour 
languished.  For  nearly  two  centuries  the 
work  was  pursued  by  the  prelates  and  archi- 
tects in  a  most  desultory  and  intermittent 
fashion. 

The  choir  had  been  completed,  and  to  the 
westward  considerable  progress  had  been 
made,  but  there  was  a  gaunt  ugly  gap  between. 
It  would  seem  as  though  there  were  no  inten- 
tion of  ever  joining  the  scattered  parts,  which 
were  linked  only  by  the  foundation-stones, 
for  the  nave  and  aisles  were  left  merely  cov- 
ered with  temporary  roofs. 

Then  the  Reformation  came,  and  that  boded 
no  good  for  the  cathedral.  The  people  looked 
askance  at  the  symbol  of  such  great  power  in 
the  hands  of  Rome. 

251 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  seventeenth  century  saw  some  abortive 
efforts  toward  completing  the  structure,  but 
in  the  end  all  came  to  nought. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  choir  received 
its  baptism  of  the  Renaissance,  and  certain 
incongruous  Italian  details  were  added.  The 
stone  screens  which  surrounded  the  choir 
proper  were  demolished  and  the  painted  glass 
of  the  triforium  mysteriously  disappeared. 

During  the  French  Revolution,  Republican 
troops  bivouacked  within  the  walls  of  Co- 
logne's cathedral,  and  the  chapter  fled  to 
Westphalia,  leaving  behind  valuable  archives 
which  were  destroyed. 

The  very  fact  of  its  profanation  may  have 
been  the  cause  which  hastened  the  restoration 
of  the  edifice. 

Napoleon  himself  was  deeply  moved  by  the 
state  of  the  *'  mine  pittoresque,"  and,  upon  the 
advice  of  an  agent  of  his  government,  made  a 
somewhat  fitful  attempt  toward  putting  it  in 
order.  Thus  the  impetus  for  the  work  of  res- 
toration and  completion  was  given. 

After  Napoleon  had  restored  the  churches 
of  Cologne  to  their  rightful  guardians,  he 
transferred  the  archbishopric  to  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  and  Bertholet,  the  new  bishop,  con- 
temptuously told  the  people  of   Cologne   to 

252 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

beautify  their  ruin  by  planting  trees  on  its 
site. 

The  neglect  to  which  the  choir  had  fallen 
was  shocking,  and  it  took  an  immediate  ex- 
penditure on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  over 
thirty  thousand  marks  to  merely  repair  the 
leaks  in  its  roof.  Tom  Hood,  a  supposed 
humourist,  but  in  reality  a  sad  soul,  wailed 
over  Cologne's  cathedral  when  he  saw  it  in 
the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
called  it  "a  broken  promise  to  God";  and 
Wordsworth  wrote  of  it  thus: 

"  Oh  !   for  the  help  of  angels  to  complete 
This  temple — Angels  governed  by  a  plan 
Thus  far  pursued  (how  gloriously!)  by  man." 

A  rearrangement  of  the  Catholic  sees  of 
Germany  took  place  in  1821,  and  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Cologne  was  refounded  and 
Count  Charles  Spiegel  zum  Desenburg  was 
appointed  archbishop. 

At  this  time,  also,  was  undertaken  the  repair 
and  completion  of  the  cathedral,  and  thus 
what  had  long  been  a  ruin  and  an  unfinished 
thing  was  in  a  fair  way  to  be  speedily  com- 
pleted. 

The  rebuilding  of  the  choir  stimulated  the 
253 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

desire  to  carry  the  entire  work  to  a  finish,  and 
a  sort  of  second  foundation-stone  was  laid  by 
Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia  on  Septem- 
ber 4,  1842,  when  the  newly  restored  choir 
was  also  reopened. 


In  1848  the  nave  had  sufficiently  progressed 
to  allow^  of  its  being  consecrated ;  which  cere- 
mony took  place  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  August  14th,  six  hundred  years  after 
the  commencement  of  the  choir.  High  mass 
w^as  celebrated  by  the  archbishop,  in  the  pres- 

254 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

ence  of  Archduke  John,  King  Frederick  Will- 
iam of  Prussia,  and  a  host  of  other  nota- 
bles. 

Within  the  next  twenty  years  much  progress 
was  made  in  the  work  of  completing  the  south- 
ern nave,  the  west  front  — with  those  enor- 
mous pretentious  towers  —  the  transepts,  and 
the  triforium  and  clerestory  of  the  nave  and 
transepts. 

In  1863  the  wall  between  the  fragmentary 
nave  and  the  choir  was  removed  and  the  struc- 
ture opened  from  end  to  end. 

Before  1870  the  western  towers  were  spired, 
though  the  final  touches  were  not  given  to 
them  until  quite  1880.  Now  that  they  are  fin- 
ished, there  is  an  undeniable  elegance  and 
symmetry  which  cannot  be  gainsaid,  though 
they  were  certainly  heavily  massed  in  the  early 
views  one  sees  of  the  cathedral  in  its  unfinished 
state.  One  still  remarks  the  apparent  —  and 
real  —  stubbiness  of  the  edifice  which,  as  Fer- 
gusson  said,  would  have  been  alleviated  if  the 
overhanging  transepts  had  been  omitted.  Why 
they  should  have  been  omitted  it  is  hard  to 
conceive,  and  the  criticism  does  not  seem  a 
reasonable  one,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  a  cer- 
tain sense  of  length  is  wanting. 

The  nave  is  undoubtedly  very  broad,  but 
255 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

it  has  double  aisles  which  satisfactorily  ac- 
counts for  this. 

Professor  Freeman  draws  a  significant  con- 
trast between  the  outline  of  the  cathedrals  at 
Cologne  and  Amiens. 

"Amiens  has  no  outline,"  says  he;  mean- 
ing that  there  is  a  paucity  of  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  irregularity  in  its  sky-line.  "  Only  at 
Cologne,"  he  continues,  "  is  this  outline  seen 
in  its  perfect  state,  and  Cologne  is  a  French 
church  on  German  soil,  just  as  Westminster 
is  a  French  church  on  English  soil." 

Indeed,  among  all  the  great  cathedrals  it 
is  only  at  Cologne  that  we  find  a  pair  of  west- 
ern towers  with  any  kind  of  dignity  and  pro- 
portion. 

The  west  front  of  Cologne  is  pretty  much 
all  tower,  with  the  nave  rather  rudely 
crowded  between  the  two.  These  towers  are 
in  reality  of  such  vast  bulk  that  they  outflank 
the  nave  considerably,  as  do  their  smaller 
counterparts  at  Wells,  though  here  at  Cologne 
the  great  transepts  overflow  the  width  even 
of  these  great  towers  of  the  facade. 

There  is  a  noble  simplicity  and  yet  a  wealth 
of  warmth  and  feeling  in  this  church,  which 
runs  the  whole  gamut  of  Gothic,  from  the 
thirteenth   to  the  sixteenth  centuries.      From 

256 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

this  latter  date,  however,  the  style  did  not 
change,  but  was  carried  out  with  that  devotion 
to  the  original  plan  which  should  have  in- 
spired the  imitators  of  Gothic  in  our  own  time 
to  have  done  better  than  they  have. 

The  clerestoried  choir  of  Cologne  more 
nearly  follows  the  French  variety  than  does 
any  other  in  Germany;  indeed  no  other  in 
Germany  in  any  w^ay  approaches  the  dignity 
and  harmony  of  those  magnificent  clievets 
which  the  French  builders,  for  a  hundred 
years  before  Cologne,  had  so  proudly  reared. 

Metz  in  a  way  also  reflects  the  same  mo- 
tive, though  that  cathedral  in  many  other 
respects  is  French. 

The  apside  is  supported  by  twenty-eight 
flying  buttresses,  which  again  are  an  echo 
from  France;  this  time  of  Beauvais;  and 
certainly,  if  they  do  not  excel  the  French  type, 
they  at  least  quite  rival  it  in  beauty  and  grace. 

One  enters  through  a  magnificently  planned 
vestibule  and  comes  at  once,  not  into  darkness, 
but  into  a  subdued  and  religious  atmosphere 
which  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
devotion. 

There  are  numerous  monuments  scattered 
about,  and  there  arc  eight  fifteenth-century 
tapestries  from  the  Gobelins'  factory. 

257 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  organ-case  is  unusually  ornate  and 
dates  from  1572. 

The  pulpit  is  not  perhaps  so  elaborate  as 
one  might  expect  from  the  general  splendour 
surrounding  it,  but  its  sculpture  is  distinctly 
good. 

In  the  choir,  on  the  screens  above  the  stalls, 
is  a  series  of  restored  frescoes  which  came 
to  light  after  a  coating  of  whitewash  had  been 
removed.  They  were  admirably  restored  by 
Steinle  in  the  mid-nineteenth  century  and  are 
very  beautiful.  The  decorations  depict  scenes 
from  the  life  of  the  Virgin  and  are  also  repro- 
duced in  part  in  the  glass  of  the  lady-chapel. 

A  modern  altar,  in  the  mediaeval  style,  has 
replaced  the  seventeenth-century  Renaissance 
work,  which  is  manifestly  for  the  better,  judg- 
ing from  the  old  engravings  that  one  sees  of 
the  former  unlovely  altar. 

The  glass  throughout  is  hardly  of  the  ex- 
cellence that  one  might  expect,  but  the  effect 
is  undeniably  good.  A  portion  of  that  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Three  Kings  is  a  relic  of  the 
old  Romanesque  cathedral,  while  that  of  the 
north  aisle  of  the  nave  dates  from  the  time 
of  Diirer. 

That  of  the  windows  of  the  Chapel  of  the 
Three  Kings  has  been  called  one  of  the  most 

258 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

beautiful  pages  out  of  the  book  of  the  fifteenth- 
century  glass-worker.  The  subject  referred 
to  is,  of  course,  "  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi." 

The  capitals  of  the  columns  of  the  nave  and 
choir  are  superbly  foliaged,  and  add  much  to 
the  general  sumptuous  appearance  of  the 
interior. 

Before  the  Chapel  of  the  Three  Kings  are 
many  tombs;  the  most  remarkable  being  that 
which  covered  the  remains  of  Marie  de  Med- 
ici, who  died  in  exile  at  Cologne  in  1642.  One 
knows  that  after  the  death  of  the  crafty  Riche- 
lieu the  body  of  the  queen  was  transported  to 
St.  Denis,  there  to  rest  with  others  of  the  long 
line  of  kings  and  queens  there  buried,  but  the 
heart  remained  at  Cologne,  and,  next  to  the 
relics  of  the  Three  Kings,  it  is  the  chief 
"  sight  "  of  interest  to  inquisitive  tourists. 

The  casket  in  which  repose  the  relics  of 
the  Three  Magi  is  a  masterwork  of  the  gold- 
smith's art  of  the  twelfth  century.  Incrusted 
on  its  surface  were  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
precious  jewels,  although  some  have  disap- 
peared in  the  course  of  the  ages.  Among  them 
is  a  topaz  of  monstrous  size,  which  excites 
the  admiration  of  all  who  set  eyes  upon  it. 

In  1794  the  canons  transported  the  casket 
to   Arnsberg,   to   Prague,    and    to    Prankfort, 

259 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

their  financial  difficulties  of  the  time  forcing 
them  to  sell  the  crowns  with  which  the  skulls 
were  adorned.  Since  then  other  coronets  have 
replaced  the  first,  set  with  gems  and  stones 
brought  from  Bohemia. 

On  the  23d  July,  1 164,  these  relics  were  first 
deposited  in  the  ancient  cathedral,  from  which 
they  were  subsequently  transferred  to  the  new 
edifice  amid  much  ceremony. 

In  their  first  resting-place  they  were 
guarded  only  by  a  simple  iron  grille  up  to 
the  time  when  the  archbishop  Maximilian 
Henry  constructed  the  cedicule  which  encloses 
them  to-day. 

On  the  pediment  of  this  screen  is  sculptured 
an  "  Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  by  Michel  Van 
der  Voorst  of  Antwerp.  There  are  also  fig- 
ures of  St.  Felix  and  St.  Nabor,  and  two 
female  figures  bearing  the  arms  of  the  Metro- 
politan Chapter. 

On  the  frieze  is  the  following  inscription: 

TRIBUS    AB    ORIENTE    REGIBUS 

DEVICTO    IN    AGNITIONE   VERI   NUMINIS 

MUNDO 

CAPITULUM    METROPOL    EREXIT. 

And  above  the  great  window,  whose  grille  is 
opened  on  ceremonial  occasions  to  allow  the 

260 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

public  a  better  view  of  the  relics,  is  graven 
the  following: 

CORPORA    SANCTORUM    RECUBANT    HIC 

TERNA   MAGORUM 

EX    HIS    SUBLATUM    NIHIL    EST    ALIBIVE 

LOCATUM. 

Finally  one  reads  the  following  single  line 
placed  between  the  columns  at  the  right  and 
left  of  the  relics: 

"  Kt  apertis  thesauris  suis,  obtulerunt  munera." 

Behind  the  reliquary  which  encloses  the 
skulls  is  a  bas-relief  in  marble  representing 
the  solemn  journey  by  which  the  relics  were 
first  brought  from  Milan.  A  bas-relief  in 
bronze,  richly  gilded,  represents  an  "  Adora- 
tion." It  was  the  gift  of  Jacques  de  Croy, 
Due  de  Cambrai,  in  1516.  The  window  above 
contains  some  fine  glass  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. 

Before  the  high  altar  are  four  great  can- 
delabra of  reddish  copper,  cast  at  Liege  in 
1770. 

The  sculptured  stalls  of  wood,  which  range 
themselves  in  a  double  row  in  the  choir,  are 

261 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

notable  for  the  profusion  of  figures  of  men 
and  animals  which  they  show  in  their  carving. 
They  are  perhaps  not  comparable  with  the 
stalls  at  Amiens  and  at  Antwerp,  nor  with 
those  in  Ste.  Cecile  at  Albi  in  France;  but 
they  merit,  nevertheless,  a  very  high  rank  for 
excellence,  and  are  very  extensive  as  to  size 
and  number. 


\lf^T^ 


Stone-masons'  marks,   Cologne  Cathedral 

To  sum  up,  the  cathedral  at  Cologne  has 
had  the  good  fortune  to  have  been  carried  out 
in  a  pure  and  distinct  German  form  of  Gothic 
without  the  interpolation  of  any  outre  disfig- 
urements. It  is  a  sumptuous  edifice,  perhaps 
the  grandest,  in  general  effect,  of  any  church 
in  Europe,  not  even  forgetting  the  splendid 
cathedrals  at  Reims,  Amiens,  or  Chartres,  all 
of  which  stand  out  from  among  their  sur- 
roundings in  much  the  same  imposing  manner 
as  does  Cologne. 

One  recognizes  even  to-day  on  the  stones  of 
Cologne's  cathedral  certain  cryptogramic 
marks  which  are  supposed  to  be  merely  the 

262 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  RJiine 

identifying  marks  of  some  particular  stone- 
mason's labour,  and  are  not,  as  has  been  doubt- 
fully advanced  from  time  to  time,  of  any  other 
significance  whatever. 


263 


XXVI 

THE  CHURCHES  OF  COLOGNE 

The  popular  interest  in  Cologne,  the  an- 
cient Colonia  Agrippina  of  the  Romans,  and 
the  romantic  incidents  connected  with  it,  are 
so  great  that  one  might  devote  a  large  volume 
to  the  city,  and  then  the  half  of  its  legend  and 
history  would  not  have  been  told. 

Cologne  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of 
Germany.  It  takes  its  place  beside  Treves 
and  Mayence  as  one  of  the  earliest  seats  of 
Christianity;  but  the  actual  date  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  church  in  Cologne  is  lost  in 
obscurity. 

There  were  undoubtedly  persons  professing 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  colony  in  the  third 
century,  and  toward  the  year  312  the  Emperor 
Constantine,  having  embraced  the  faith  him- 
self, gave  his  protection  to  its  adherents 
throughout  his  colonies. 

The  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Cologne  con- 
tains a  painting  presented  to  it  by  Rubens  in 
memory  of  the  fact  that  he  was  baptized  before 

264 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  altar  of  this  church.  Of  this  picture,  a 
"  Crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,"  Sir  Joshua  Reyn- 
olds wrote: 

"  It  was  painted  a  little  time  before  Ru- 
bens's  death.  The  body  and  head  of  the  saint 
are  the  only  good  parts  in  this  picture,  which, 
however,  is  finely  coloured  and  well  drawn; 
but  the  figure  bends  too  suddenly  from  the 
thighs,  which  are  ill  drawn,  or,  rather,  in  a 
bad  taste  of  drawing;  as  is  likewise  his  arm, 
which  has  a  short  interrupted  outline.  The 
action  of  the  malefactors  has  not  that  energy 
which  he  usually  gave  to  his  figures.  Rubens, 
in  his  letters  to  Gildorp,  expresses  his  own 
approbation  of  this  picture,  which  he  says  was 
the  best  he  ever  painted ;  he  likewise  expresses 
his  content  and  happiness  in  the  subject,  as 
being  picturesque;  this  is  likewise  natural  to 
such  a  mind  as  that  of  Rubens,  who  was  per- 
haps too  much  looking  about  him  for  the  pic- 
turesque, or  something  uncommon.  A  man 
with  his  head  downwards  is  certainly  a  more 
extraordinary  object  than  if  the  head  were  in 
its  natural  place.  Many  parts  of  this  picture 
are  so  feebly  drawn,  and  with  so  tame  a  pencil, 
that  I  cannot  help  suspecting  that  Rubens  died 
before  he  had  completed  it,  and  that  it  was 
finished  by  some  of  his  scholars." 

265 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

St.  Maria  in  Capitola,  one  of  Cologne's 
famous  churches,  stands  on  the  site  of  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  Romans.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  perfect  examples  extant  of  a  triapsed 
church,  though  the  three  apses  themselves  are 
supposed  to  have  been  an  afterthought  added 
in  the  twelfth  century,  whereas  the  nave  dates 
from  the  century  before.  The  nave,  too,  has 
an  interpolation  or  addition  to  its  original 
form  in  that  a  Gothic  roof  was  added  some 
three  hundred  years  after  it  had  first  been 
covered  with  a  plain  wooden  ceiling. 

The  three  apses  unfold  grandly,  with  the 
high  altar  in  the  most  easterly  or  middle  ter- 
mination. 

The  general  eflfect  of  the  interior  is  decid- 
edly high  coloured,  with  much  polychromatic 
decoration  and  painted  glass.  In  the  Harden- 
rath  chapel  are  found  the  most  striking  of 
these  mural  decorations,  which  are  interesting 
as  illustrating  a  certain  phase  of  art,  if  not  for 
their  supreme  excellence. 

St.  Pantaleon's  claims  to  be  the  most  an- 
cient church  in  the  city,  dating  as  far  back 
as  A.  D.  980,  when  it  was  reared  from  the  stones 
of  the  Roman  bridge  which  before  that  time 
stretched  across  to  Deutz.  The  chapel  of  the 
Minorites  contains  the  tomb  of  Duns  Scotus, 

266 


Cathedrals  ajtd  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


and  a  horrible  tale  is  told  of  his  entombment 
alive,  of  his  revival  in  his  coffin,  his  struggle 
to  escape,  and  his  body  being  found  afterward 
at  the  closed  door  of  the  sepulchre,  with  the 
hand  eaten  ofif  by  himself  ere  he  died  of 
hunger. 
A  peculiarity  of  Cologne's  churches  —  for 


■>■■■  ■:'■   r.  ^c^j  ^^,'(»i}^Ly'^\ 


(/■■■■■ 


**-. 


FONT. 


5.MflRTIA).C0L0&AIE. 


it  is  possessed  by  the  Apostles'  Church,  St. 
Cunibert's,  and  St.  Andrew's  —  is  the  western 
apse. 

Such  a  member  is  not  unique  to  Cologne, 
for  it  exists  in  the  cathedral  at  Nevers,  in 
France,  and  there  are  yet  other  examples  in 
Germany;  but  its  use  is  sufficiently  uncommon 
to  warrant  speculation  as  to  its  purpose. 

267 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  Apostles'  Church  has  this  feature  most 
highly  developed.  The  edifice  is  a  noble  pile 
dating  from  early  in  the  eleventh  century,  but 
reconstructed  two  centuries  later,  to  which 
period  it  really  belongs  so  far  as  its  general 
characteristics  are  concerned. 

Not  all  the  church  architecture  of  Cologne 
is  Gothic;  indeed  the  churches  of  the  Apostles 
and  St.  Martin  each  show  the  Lombard  influ- 
ence to  a  marked  degree.  The  three  apses, 
and  their  round  arches  and  galleries,  are  like 
a  bit  of  Italy  transported  northward. 

St.  Maria  in  Capitola,  founded  by  the  wife 
of  Pepin,  has  the  same  characteristics,  while 
St.  Martin  has  the  outline  of  quite  the  ideal 
Romanesque  church.  Its  great  tower,  which 
fills  the  square  between  the  apses,  is  certainly 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  to  be  seen  on  a  long 
round  of  European  travel.  This  tower  must 
date  from  the  latter  years  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, and  yet,  although  of  a  period  contem- 
porary with  the  Gothic  of  Notre  Dame  de 
Paris,  it  is  so  thoroughly  Romanesque  that 
one  wonders  that,  in  Cologne  at  least,  the  style 
ever  died  out  as  it  did  when  the  great  Gothic 
cathedral  was  conceived. 

St.  Andrews  is  another  triapsed  church, 
and  is  considered  one  of  the  best  and  most 

268 


GROSS  5t./V\/\FJ-\N 
■      COIOGNL 


Cathedrals  and  CJmrches  of  the  Rhine 

elaborately  designed  fabrics  of  the  Roman- 
esque type  on  the  Rhine,  particularly  in  re- 
spect to  its  central  tower,  the  nave,  and  the 
west  transept. 

There  has  been  much  late  Gothic  rebuild- 
ing, but  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  earlier 
period  distinctly  predominated.  The  apses 
are  polygonal,  but  it  is  thought  that  they  may, 
in  earlier  times,  have  been  semicircular  like 
St.  Martin's,  St.  Mary's,  and  the  Apostles' 
Churches. 

St.  Gereon's  is  an  octagonal  church  similar 
to  that  of  Charlemagne  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
Even  more  than  the  latter  it  has  been  altered, 
rebuilt,  and  added  to,  but  the  original  outline 
is  still  readily  traced  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
its  foundations  may  have  come  down  from 
the  fifth  century.  It  is  more  difficult,  how- 
ever, to  follow  its  evolution  in  detail  than  it 
is  in  the  case  of  Charlemagne's  shrine  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle. 

The  style  is  distinctly  Rhenish,  though  not 
alone  in  Germany  do  such  round  churches 
exist;  one  recalls  the  Templars'  Church  in 
London  and  the  famous  example  at  Ravenna 
in  Italy. 

The  great  decagon  of  St.  Gereon's  is  covered 
with  a  domed  roof,  also  divided  into  ten  sec- 

271 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tions  by  groins  or  ribs,  which  rise  gracefully 
from  the  slender  shafts  at  the  angles,  meeting 
at  the  apex  in  a  boss. 

The  ancient  collegiate  buildings  which  for- 
merly surrounded  St.  Gereon's  have  disap- 
peared, but  there  is  yet  an  extensive  structure 
of  a  more  modern  date  which  enfolds  the  cen- 
tral pile.  The  easterly  apse  is  low  and  rec- 
tangular, while  the  fagade  of  the  west  is 
flanked  by  two  Romanesque  unspired  towers. 

St.  Gereon's  is  one  of  the  most  curiously 
constructed  churches  of  the  middle  ages.  It 
was  founded  by  the  Empress  Helene  in  honour 
of  the  Theban  martyrs,  who,  to  the  number 
of  three  hundred  and  ninety-five,  died  for 
their  faith,  with  their  captains,  Gereon  and 
Gregory,  toward  the  end  of  the  third  century, 
in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian. 

One  enters  by  a  rectangular  porch,  where 
are  disposed  some  fragments  of  Roman  re- 
mains. The  rotunda,  or  decagon,  so  reminis- 
cent of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  dates  from  a  period 
contemporary  therewith,  so  far  as  its  lower 
walls  are  concerned,  but  the  upper  portions 
are  of  the  twelfth  century,  at  least. 

Below  the  arches  are  the  chapels  which  sur- 
round the  decagon  in  symmetrical  fashion. 
Above  is  the  organ  and  the  adjoining  choir 

272 


-If!-. 


r^iVr«^T3f.  :fi^p^^ 


ff  ■,        .fee    ;!--'J . 


■i?o^~^ 


^iA.CInu^ 


IT.  GEREON'S,  COLOGNE 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

walls.  In  the  latter  are  walled  up  innumer- 
able skulls  of  the  companions  of  St.  Gereon, 
and  in  each  of  the  chapels  is  a  great  sarcoph- 
agus, also  containing  the  bones  of  the  martyrs. 
Altogether  the  thought  which  arises  is  not 
a  pleasant  one,  no  matter  how  worthy  the 
object  of  preserving  such  a  vast  quantity  of 
human  remains. 

The  high  altar  is  quite  isolated,  and  the 
pavement  of  the  choir  itself,  which  is  aisleless, 
rises  behind  it  to  a  height  of  a  dozen  or  more 
steps,  —  a  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Rhine 
churches. 

The  apse  has  an  insertion  of  Gothic  win- 
dows, but  the  eleventh-century  Romanesque 
features  are  still  prominent. 

In  the  choir  are  a  series  of  flamboyant 
Gothic  stalls,  above  which  are  monumental 
tablets  let  into  the  wall. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  choir  are  two  colossal 
statues  of  the  martyred  saints,  then  seven  oth- 
ers, behind  which,  at  the  base  of  the  apside, 
is  another  altar. 

The  tapestries  which  surround  the  choir  are 
of  the  ""  haut-lisse  "  weaving,  and  represent 
the  life  history  of  Joseph. 

Beneath  the  choir  is  a  vast,  antique  crypt, 
which   contains   yet  other   sarcophagi   filled, 

273 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

presumably,  with  human  bones.  The  pave- 
ment is  composed  of  fragments  of  antique 
mosaic. 

The  Jesuit  church  at  Cologne  is  one  of  the 
few  Renaissance  examples  on  the  Rhine.  It 
is,  however,  most  unchurchly,  when  judged 
by  French  standards. 

Certainly  this  German  example  is  highly 
beautiful  both  in  design  and  execution;  but 
it  is  not  churchly,  and  its  great  cylindrical  col- 
umns, strung  together  by  a  gallery,  give  the 
appearance  of  a  foyer  in  an  opera-house  or 
of  a  modern  railway-station,  rather  than  that 
of  a  place  of  worship. 

It  is  all  nave;  there  are  no  transepts,  and 
there  is  no  choir  properly  speaking,  but  merely 
a  chancel,  not  very  deep  and  again  very  un- 
churchly, with  two  ugly  lights  on  either  side, 
and  a  sort  of  pagoda-like  screen  which  is  de- 
cidedly theatrical.  The  carving  of  the  pulpit 
and  the  disposition  of  all  the  decoration  is 
extremely  bizarre,  but  undeniably  excellent 
in  execution. 

Cologne  is  an  archbishopric  which  has  for 
sufifragan  sees,  Treves,  Miinster,  and  Pader- 
born. 

The  abbeys  and  churches  which  were 
erected  in  Cologne,  when  the  archbishop  first 

274 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

took  up  his  residence  there  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighth  century,  were  numerous  and  ex- 
ceedingly rich  in  endowment.  So  much  was 
this  so  that  Cologne  was  given  the  name  of 
the  "  Holy  City  of  the  north." 

The  Jews  of  Cologne  were  a  numerous 
body,  but  a  decree  of  1425  drove  them  all  from 
the  city.  In  16 18  a  new  decree  likewise  ex- 
pelled the  Protestants.  Time  regulated  all 
this,  but  in  those  days  Cologne  clung  proudly 
to  the  position  which  she  had  attained  as  a 
champion  of  the  orthodox  religion. 

In  all,  there  were  two  abbeys,  two  collegiate 
churches,  the  cathedral,  forty-nine  chapels, 
thirty-nine  monasteries,  two  convents  for 
women,  and  many  commanderies  of  the  Teu- 
tonic order  and  the  Order  of  Malta. 

Near  Cologne  is  the  fine  old  Cistercian 
abbey  of  Altenburg.  It  contains  some  very 
ancient  coloured  glass,  perhaps  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  its  era  extant,  for  it  is  thought  to  date 
from  between  1270  and  1300,  when  the  art 
first  attained  any  great  excellence. 

That  which  remains  to-day  shows  foliage 
and  diaper  in  great  variety,  with  no  figures 
whatever,  this  being  a  distinct  tenet  of  the  Cis- 
tercian builders,  who,  in  the  severity  of  their 


275 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

rule,  frowned  down  all  decorative  effects  that 
bordered  upon  the  frivolous. 

These  windows  at  Altenburg,  being  the  best 
examples  of  their  kind,  are  the  distinct  artistic 
attraction  of  the  great  abbey,  which  is  a  dozen 
or  more  miles  distant  from  Cologne. 

The  choir  was  commenced  in  1 255  and  com- 
pleted almost  immediately;  but  the  entire 
main  fabric  was  not  finished  until  well  on  in 
the  century  following. 


276 


XXVII 

AIX  -  LA  -  CHAPELLE 

As  Rouen  in  Normandy  was  known  as  "  the 
city  of  the  Conqueror,"  so  Aix-la-Chapelle 
became  known,  at  a  much  earlier  date,  as  "  the 
city  of  Charlemagne." 

Charlemagne  was  more  than  a  conqueror; 
he  was  a  statesman,  with  a  boundless  ambition. 
He  founded  the  German  Empire,  and 
changed  tribes  of  lawless  barbarians  into  a 
civilized  people.  At  Aix-la-Chapelle  he  re- 
ceived the  embassies  of  the  Caliph  of  Baghdad 
and  of  the  Saxon  Kings  of  England,  and  there 
he  endeavoured  to  advance  the  enlightenment 
of  his  people  by  the  founding  of  monasteries 
and  by  giving  very  material  aid  to  the  monks 
and  priests. 

Aix  therefore  became  the  scene  of  some  of 
the  most  interesting  episodes  in  the  life  and 
career  of  Charlemagne. 

At  the  death  of  his  consort,  Frastrade,  Char- 
lemagne was  inconsolable.     Even  when  she  i 
had  been  dead  for  three  weeks,  the  monarch  / 

277 


Cathedrals  and  CJmrches  of  the  Rhine 

would  not  hear  her  death  spoken  of.  "  She 
did  but  sleep,"  he  said;  and  the  Emperor 
clung  to  the  chamber  of  his  beloved,  and 
would  not  abate  his  watchfulness  "  till  Fras- 
trade  woke." 

Meantime  the  afifairs  of  the  Empire  were 
falling  into  confusion.  Provinces  were  all  but 
revolting,  and  foreign  foes  were  mustering 
their  forces.  The  Emperor's  chief  counsellor 
was  the  Archbishop  of  Reims.  One  night  — 
though  this  is  more  legendary  than  historical 
—  the  archbishop  was  walking  by  himself 
when  he  came  upon  a  shape  in  the  moonlight 
which  proclaimed  itself  as  follows :  "  I  am 
the  good  genius  of  Charlemagne.  I  came  to 
teach  you  how  to  remove  the  shadow  from  his 
spirit.  Dig,  where  I  stand,  a  grave  and  let 
the  festering  body  of  Frastrade  lie  in  it.  But, 
mark  you!  Ere  you  move  her  body,  search 
beneath  her  tongue  and  take  out  what  you 
find  there." 

The  archbishop  hurried  toward  a  gro- 
tesquely carved  cottage  door  where  lived  a 
gravedigger. 

"  No  silken  sleeper  so  calm  as  thev 
Who  seek  a  couch  in  the  churchyard  clay," 

sang  a  voice  from  within. 

278 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  half  an  hour  the  grave  was  begun,  and 
in  another  half-hour  the  churchman  was  in 
the  chamber  of  Frastrade,  where  the  Emperor, 
exhausted  by  his  vigil,  slept  kneeling  at  the 
bedside. 

The  archbishop  approached,  and,  peering 
into  the  mouth  of  the  corpse,  saw  beneath  the  \ 
tongue  a  glittering  jewel. 

With  hasty  fingers  he  seized  the  token,  and, 
as  he  removed  it,  a  loud  wail  startled  the 
silence  of  the  death-chamber  and  aroused  the 
king.     The  spell  was  broken. 

Throwing  but  a  single  glance  at  the  corpse 
of  his  wife,  Charlemagne  left  the  chamber, 
and,  even  as  he  went,  agreed  to  the  archbish- 
op's arrangements  for  her  burial. 

The  grave  so  secretly  made  ready  was  un- 
necessary, however,  for  the  body  was  borne  to 
Mayence,  where  a  tomb  raised  to  the  memory 
of  Frastrade  is  still  to  be  seen. 

At  the  archbishop's  desire  Charlemagne 
once  more  took  his  seat  in  the  Council  of  State, 
and  once  more  the  Empire  was  put  in  order. 

The  courtiers  resented  the  advent  of  the 
churchman  into  the  favour  of  the  Emperor, 
who  at  length,  when  the  court  was  sitting  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  determined  to  rid  himself  of 
the  mystic  jewel.     Choosing  a  dark  night,  he 

281 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

sought  a  deep  pool  near  the  centre  of  a  morass 
as  being  suitable  for  concealing  the  gem, 
which  he  had  determined  no  man  should  ever 
see.  Coming  upon  the  spot,  and  holding  the 
bauble  in  his  hand  above  the  waters,  he 
dropped  it  and  saw  it  sink,  as  though  the  pit 
were  bottomless.  But  the  brilliancy  of  the 
gem  was  inextinguishable. 

Next  morning  the  court  was  pleased  to  note 
that  the  archbishop's  influence  over  the  Em- 
peror was  quite  gone. 

As  the  Emperor  was  strolling  about  the  city, 
he  fell  upon  the  pool  which  held  the  gem. 
There  he  would  sit  by  the  hour,  gazing  upon 
the  still  waters,  near  which  he  afterward  built 
himself  a  home,  known  to-day,  though  in 
ruins,  as  the  castle  of  Frankenberg. 

A  few  years  after  the  death  of  his  wife, 
Charlemagne  built  La  Chapelle,  that  great 
octagonal  church  which  gives  the  city  its 
French  name.  The  tomb  of  Charlemagne  is 
there,  inscribed  only  Carolo  Magno.  He  died 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  814,  and  was  buried 
with  great  pomp.  Victor  Hugo  gives  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  as  the  place  of  his  birth,  which 
is  manifestly  an  error. 

Charlemagne's  body  was  placed  in  the  tomb 
—Jin  a  sitting  posture,  and  three  centuries  later 

282 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

was  exhumed  by  Frederick  Barbarossa  that 
he  might  sit  in  the  same  place,  and  afterward  [ 
the  German  Emperors  used  the  seat  as  a  sort 
of  throne  of  state  at  their  coronations. 

The  sword  and  sceptre  and  all  that  was 


mortal  of  the  great  Charlemagne  are  gone, 
but  his  memory  still  lives  in  an  enduring  mon- 
ument in  the  cathedral. 

The  cathedral  is  wonderful  for  its  antiquary 
and  charming  to  all  who  come  within  its  spell ; 
furthermore  it  forms  a  shrine  for  hero-wor- 
shippers which  should  not  be  neglected. 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhme 
At  one  of  the  entrances  is  a  bronze  wolf. 


placed  there  to  keep  in  memory  a  monkish 
legend  which  passes  current  at  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle  to  this  day. 

It  runs  as  follows: 

"  In  former  times  the  zealous  and  devout 
inhabitants  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  determined  to 
build  a  cathedral.  For  six  months  the  clang 
of  the  hammer  and  axe  resounded  with  won- 
derful activity,  but  alas !  the  money  which  had 
been  supplied  by  pious  Christians  for  this  holy 
work  became  exhausted,  the  wages  of  the 
masons  were  suspended,  and  with  them  their 
desire  to  hew  and  hammer,  for,  after  all,  men 
w^ere  not  so  very  religious  in  those  days  as  to 
build  a  temple  on  credit. 

"  Thus  it  stood,  half-finished,  resembling  a 
falling  ruin.  Moss,  grass,  and  wild  parsley 
flourished  in  the  cracks  of  the  walls,  screech- 
owls  already  discovered  convenient  places  for 
their  nests,  and  amorous  sparrows  hopped 
lovingly  about  where  holy  priests  should  have 
been  teaching  lessons  of  chastity. 

"The  builders  were  confounded;  they  en- 
deavoured to  borrow^  here  and  there,  but  no 
rich  man  could  be  induced  to  advance  so  large 
a  sum.  The  collection  from  house  to  house 
fell  short.    When  the  magistracy  received  this 

284 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

report,  they  were  out  of  humour,  and  looked 
with  desponding  countenances  toward  the 
cathedral  walls,  as  fathers  look  upon  the  re- 
mains of  favourite  children. 

"  At  this  moment  a  stranger  of  commanding 
figure  and  something  of  pride  in  his  voice 
and  bearing  entered  and  exclaimed:  'Bon 
Dieu!  they  say  that  you  are  out  of  spirits. 
Hem!  if  nothing  but  money  is  wanting,  you 
may  console  yourselves,  gentlemen.  I  possess 
mines  of  gold  and  silver,  and  both  can  and  will 
most  willingly  supply  you  with  a  ton  of  it.' 

"  The  astounded  Senators  sat  like  a  row  of 
pillars,  measuring  the  stranger  from  head  to 
foot.  The  burgomaster  first  found  his  tongue. 
'  Who  are  you,  noble  lord,'  said  he,  '  that  thus, 
entirely  unknown,  speak  of  tons  of  gold  as 
though  they  were  sacks  of  beans?  Tell  us 
your  name,  your  rank  in  this  world,  and 
whether  you  are  sent  from  the  regions  above 
to  assist  us.' 

"  '  I  have  not  the  honour  to  reside  there,' 
replied  the  stranger,  '  and,  between  ourselves, 
I  beg  most  particularly  to  be  no  longer  trou- 
bled with  questions  concerning  who  and  what 
I  am.  Suffice  it  to  say  I  have  gold  plentiful 
as  summer  hay!'  Then,  drawing  forth  a 
leathern   pouch,   he   proceeded:    'This  little 

285 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

purse  contains  the  tenth  of  what  I'll  give. 
The  rest  shall  soon  be  forthcoming.  Now 
listen,  my  masters,'  continued  he,  clinking  the 
coin,  '  all  this  trumpery  is  and  shall  remain 
yours  if  you  promise  to  give  me  the  first  little 
soul  that  enters  the  door  of  the  new  temple 
when  it  is  consecrated.' 

"  The  astonished  Senators  now  sprang  from 
their  seats  as  if  they  had  been  shot  up  by  an 
earthquake,  and  then  rushed  pell-mell,  and 
fell  all  of  a  lump  into  the  farthest  corner  of 
the  room,  where  they  rolled  and  clung  to  each 
other  like  lambs  frightened  at  flashes  of  light- 
\  ning.  Only  one  of  the  party,  who  had  not 
J  entirely  lost  his  wits,  collected  his  remaining 
senses,  and,  drawing  his  head  out  of  the  heap, 
uttered  boldly,  '  Avaunt,  thou  wicked  spirit! ' 

"  But  the  stranger,  who  was  no  less  a  person 
than  Master  Urian,  laughed  at  them.  '  What's 
all  this  outcry  about?  '  said  he  at  length;  '  is 
my  offence  so  heinous  that  you  are  all  become 
like  children?  It  is  I  that  may  suffer  from 
this  business,  not  you.  With  my  hundreds  and 
thousands  I  have  not  far  to  run  to  buy  a  score 
of  souls.  From  you  I  ask  but  one  in  exchange 
for  all  my  money.  What  are  you  picking  at 
straws  for?  One  may  plainly  see  you  are  a 
mere  set  of  humbugs!     For  the  good  of  the 

286 


Cathedrals  and  Chiirches  of  tJie  Rhine 

commonwealth  (which  high-sounding  name 
is  often  borrowed  for  all  sorts  of  purposes), 
many  a  prince  would  instantly  conduct  a  whole 
army  to  be  butchered,  and  you  refuse  one 
single  man  for  that  purpose!  Fie!  I  am 
ashamed,  O  overwise  counsellors,  to  hear  you 
reason  thus  absurdly  and  citizen-like.  What! 
do  you  think  to  deprive  yourselves  of  the 
kernel  of  your  people  by  granting  my  wish? 
Oh,  no,  there  your  wisdom  is  quite  at  fault, 
for,  depend  on  it,  hypocrites  are  always  the 
earliest  church-birds.' 

"  By  degrees,  as  the  cunning  fiend  thus 
spoke,  the  Senators  took  courage  and  whis- 
pered in  each  other's  ear:  *  What  is  the  use 
of  our  resisting?  The  grim  lion  will  only 
show  his  teeth  once;  if  we  don't  assent,  we 
shall  infallibly  be  packed  ofif  ourselves.  It 
is  better,  therefore,  to  quiet  him  directly.' 

"  Scarcely  was  this  sanguinary  contract  con- 
cluded when  a  swarm  of  purses  flew  into  the 
room  through  the  doors  and  windows,  and 
Urian,  more  civil  than  before,  took  leave  with- 
out leaving  any  smell  behind.  He  stopped, 
however,  at  the  door,  and  called  out  with  a 
grim  leer:  '  Count  it  over  again,  for  fear  that 
I  may  have  cheated  you.' 

"  The  hellish  gold  was  piously  expended  in 
287 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

finishing  the  cathedral,  but,  nevertheless,  when 
the  building  shone  forth  in  all  its  splendour, 
the  whole  town  was  filled  with  fear  and  alarm 
at  the  sight  of  it.  The  fact  was  that,  although 
the  Senators  had  promised  by  bond  and  oath 
not  to  trust  the  secret  to  anybody,  one  of  them 
had  prated  to  his  wife,  and  she  had  made  it 
a  market-place  tale,  so  that  all  declared  they 
would  never  set  foot  within  the  temple.  The 
terrified  council  now  consulted  the  clergy,  but 
the  good  priests  all  hung  down  their  heads. 
At  last  a  monk  cried  out:  '  A  thought  strikes 
me.  The  wolf  which  has  so  long  ravaged  the 
neighbourhood  of  our  town  was  this  morning 
caught  alive.  This  will  be  a  well-merited 
punishment  for  the  destroyer  of  our  flocks; 
let  him  be  cast  to  the  devil  in  the  fiery  gulf. 
'Tis  possible  the  arch  hell-hound  may  not  rel- 
ish this  breakfast,  yet  nolens  volens  he  must 
swallow  it.  You  promised  him  certainly  a 
soul,  but  whose  was  not  decidedly  specified.' 
"  The  monk's  plan  was  plausible,  and  the 
Senate  determined  to  put  the  cunning  trick 
into  execution.  At  length  the  day  of  conse- 
cration arrived,  and  orders  were  given  to 
bring  the  wolf  to  the  principal  entrance  of 
the  cathedral.  So,  just  as  the  bells  began  to 
ring,   the  trap-door  of  the  cage  was  pulled 

288 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

open,  and  the  savage  beast  darted  out  into  the 
nave  of  the  empty  church.  Master  Urian, 
from  his  lurking-place,  beheld  this  consecra- 
tion offering  with  the  utmost  fury.  Burning 
with  choler  at  being  thus  deceived,  he  raged 
like  a  tempest  and  then  rushed  forth,  slam- 
ming the  brass  gate  so  violently  after  him  that 
the  rings  split  in  two. 

"  This  crack,  which  serves  to  commemorate 
the  priest's  victory  over  the  tricks  of  the  devil, 
is  still  exhibited  to  the  gaping  travellers  who 
visit  the  cathedral." 

So  much  for  the  legend.  But  the  devil,  dis- 
appointed at  the  turn  of  affairs  in  respect  to 
the  cathedral,  had  his  revenge  when  Aix,  fifty 
years  or  more  ago,  first  became  the  centre  of 
public  gaming-tables,  which  only  lately  have 
been  deserted  by  what  is  known  as  smart  so- 
ciety for  other  resorts  of  a  similar  nature  else- 
where. 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  Charle- 
magne's church  at  Aix,  while  it  is  itself  a 
rather  vivid  memory  of  Ravenna,  is  the  pro- 
totype of  much  church-building  elsewhere. 
The  round  churches  of  Germany  followed  in 
due  course,  while,  in  respect  to  some  details, 
the  cathedral  has  been  claimed  to  be  the  fore- 
runner of  the  true  Gothic.    At  any  rate,  there 

289 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

is  a  reflection  of  its  dome  in  that  which  termi- 
nates the  centre  of  the  cross  of  St.  Fedele  at 
Como.  The  similarity  goes  to  prove  that 
Charlemagne's  industry  in  church-building  in 
Italy  was  as  great  as  his  desire  of  conquest. 

The  church  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  was  frankly 
designed  as  the  tomb  of  Charlemagne,  and 
that  perhaps  accounts  for  the  combining  of 
the  rotunda  of  a  ceremonial  edifice  with  that 
of  a  basilica  intended  solely  for  worship.  Part 
of  it  was  undoubtedly  the  work  of  the  Coma- 
cine  builders  whom  Charlemagne  brought 
from  Italy,  and  part  is  nothing  more  than  an 
importation  or  adaptation  of  classical  and 
Byzantine  adornments. 

Charlemagne's  architects  studied  geography 
and  climate  well  when  they  erected  this  link 
between  the  Romanesque-Lombardic  style  of 
the  south  and  the  Gothic  of  the  north. 

That  portion  of  the  present  cathedral  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  which  was  built  by  Charle- 
magne is  the  octagonal  projection  toward  the 
east.  It  forms  a  truly  regal  mausoleum,  and 
for  twelve  hundred  years  has  well  stood  the 
march  of  time. 

It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  most  mag- 
nificent church  edifice  of  Charlemagne's  era 
throughout  all  Europe,  though  it  was  seriously 

290 


A 


IX-LA-CHAPELLE 
CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

injured  by  an  earthquake  a  few  years  after 
its  completion. 

Later  it  was  plundered  by  the  Normans, 
and  it  suffered  disastrous  fires  in  1146,  1234, 
1236,  and  1656,  having  in  consequence  under- 
gone many  material  changes. 

Its  external  features  have  heen  considerably 
added  to,  but  the  prototype  of  the  round  and 
octagonal  churches,  subsequently  erected  in 
Germany,  is  here  visible  to-day  in  all  its  com- 
parative novelty. 

The  granite  and  porphyry  columns  which 
support  the  arches  giving  upon  the  interior 
of  the  octagon  were  once  taken  and  carried 
to  Paris,  but  fortunately  they  were  returned 
and  again  put  into  position. 

The  choir  of  the  church,  as  it  now  is,  was 
not  begun  until  1353,  and  was  finished  in  the 
century  following.  It  is  pure  Gothic  of  the 
most  approved  variety,  whereas  the  octagon 
church  is  as  pure  Romanesque;  and  the  two 
components  do  not  blend  or  mingle  in  the 
least. 

In  the  roof  of  the  octagon  is  a  remarkable 
specimen  of  modern  wall  and  roof  decoration, 
which  might  better  have  been  omitted. 

There  is  a  cloister  leading  from  the  north- 
west chapel  which  has  recently  been  restored. 

291 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

It  is  a  delightful  retreat,  and  has  the  "  stations 
of  the  cross  "  displayed  upon  its  inner  wall. 

There  are  numerous  rare  and  valuable  relics 
in  the  cathedral;  the  chief  of  which  is  the 
flagstone,  which,  bearing  the  simple  words, 
Carolo  Magna,  is  supposed  to  cover  the  actual 
burial-place  of  Charlemagne.  Above  this  is 
a  magnificent  chandelier,  reminiscent  of  an- 
other in  the  church  at  Hildesheim,  the  gift 
of  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa. 

Eight  chapels  surround  the  octagon,  and 
in  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  a  magnifi- 
cent altar-piece  consisting  of  a  crucifix  carved 
in  wood. 

Most  of  the  kings  and  queens  who  were 
crowned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  presented  articles 
of  value  to  the  sacristy.  The  most  magnificent 
of  these  is  a  sarcophagus  in  Parian  marble 
representing  the  Rape  of  Proserpine. 

The  marble  chair  on  which  Charlemagne 
was  found  sitting  in  his  tomb,  and  upon  which 
the  German  emperors  were  crowned,  is  yet 
to  be  seen. 

The  relics  in  the  cathedral  are  divided  into 
two  classes.  In  the  first  class  are  those  which 
are  the  most  sacred;  in  the  second  class  are 
those  of  lesser  importance.  The  latter  are  vis- 
ible at  all  times ;  the  former  only  once  in  seven 

292 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

years,  when  they  are  exposed  for  a  fort- 
night. 

The  choir-stalls  are  set  against  the  walls  in 
a  curious  fashion,  and  there  are  chairs  instead 
of  the  usual  German  benches  for  the  congrega- 
tion. 

The  appearance  of  this  celebrated  cathedral 
from  the  outside  is  most  curious,  since  the 
erections  and  additions  of  later  centuries  have 
not  been  symmetrical. 

There  is  a  tall,  modern  spire  which  is  not 
a  beautiful  addition,  and  the  magnificent  oc- 
tagon has  had  a  slate  roof  added,  which  like- 
wise is  a  detraction. 

St.  Adelbert's  was  another  ancient  church 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  but  it  has  given  way  to 
a  modern  edifice  bearing  the  same  name, 
though  it  is  in  good  taste  and  most  pleasing 
in  its  interior  arrangement. 

The  Minoriten  Kirche  is  a  monkish  foun- 
dation of  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century. 
Its  nave  and  aisles  all  come  under  one  canopy 
vault,  and  its  aisleless  choir  is  squared  off 
abruptly  with  an  enormous  carved  and  painted 
altar-piece  of  no  great  excellence. 

It  is  pleasant  to  recall  here  that  the  council 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle  made  laws,  which  Charle- 
magne himself  encouraged,  referring  to  the 

293 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

treatment  of  pilgrims  by  the  hospices  which 
were  so  generally  established  throughout 
Charlemagne's  realm  in  Carlovingian  times. 

To  the  ordinary  fine  for  murder  there  was 
added  sixty  soldi  more  if  the  person  killed 
were  a  pilgrim  to  or  from  a  hospice.  Any  who 
denied  food  and  shelter  to  a  pilgrim  was  fined 
three  soldi.  These  were  the  regulations  put 
into  effect  through  Charlemagne's  dominions 
at  the  suggestion  of  Pepin  II. 


294 


XXVIII 

LIEGE 

The  natural  highway  from  Antwerp  and 
Brussels  to  the  Rhine  lies  through  Liege  and 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  or  Aachen,  as  the  Germans 
call  the  latter. 

Wordsworth,  in  his  wonderful  travel  poem, 
wrote  of  the  Meuse,  which  flows  by  Liege  on 
its  way  to  the  Royal  Ardennes,  in  a  way  which 
should  induce  many  sated  travellers  to  follow 
in  his  footsteps,  and  know  something  of  the 
fascinating  charm  of  this  most  fertile  and  per- 
haps the  most  picturesque  of  all  the  rivers  of 
Europe. 

"  What  lovelier  home  could  gentle  fancy  choose  ? 
In  this  the  stream,  whose  cities,  heights  and  plains. 
War's  favourite  playground,  are  with  crimson  stains 
Familiar,  as  the  morn  with  pearly  dews. 

"  How  sweet  the  prospect  of  yon  watery  glade, 
With  its  gray  locks  clustering  in  pensive  shade. 
That,  shap'd  like  old  monastic  turrets,  rise, 
From  the  smooth  meadow  ground  serene  and  still." 

295 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

As  one  journeys  on  to  Liege,  Roman  influ- 
ences have  left  many  and  visible  remains. 

Crossing  the  plain  of  Neervinden,  one  en- 
ters the  province  of  the  Liegeois,  where  the 
French  were  defeated  by  the  Austrians  in 
1793,  thus  releasing  Belgium  from  the  Gallic 
yoke. 

At  Landen  one  recalls  that  it  is  the  town 
of  the  inception  of  the  family  of  Charlemagne 
which  gave  to  France  her  second  race  of 
kings. 

Liege  has  been  called  the  Birmingham  of 
Continental  Europe.  It  might  better  be  called 
one  of  the  foremost  industrial  centres  of  the 
world,  for  such  it  is  to-day. 

It  is  beautifully  placed  in  an  amphitheatre- 
like valley,  and  its  tall  chimneys,  its  smoke, 
and  its  grind  of  wheels  bespeak  an  activity 
and  unrest  of  which  the  former  ages  knew 
not. 

Formerly  the  Liegeois  were  a  turbulent  and 
truculent  folk,  if  one  is  to  believe  history. 

If,  however,  one  does  not  care  to  go  back 
to  history,  he  might  turn  to  the  pages  of 
"  Quentin  Durward  "  and  read  of  the  spirit  of 
romance  which  once  surrounded  Liege  and 
its  people. 

The  famous  "  Legend  of  the  Liegeois  "  re- 
296 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

counts  how  a  working  blacksmith  found  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  coals  for  his  forge 
through  the  aid  of  a  gnomish  old  man. 

Previously  the  smith's  fires  had  burned  low, 
and  only  the  old  man's  song  inspired  him  to 
forage  on  the  hillside,  with  the  result  that  the 
future  prosperity  of  the  city  grew  up  from 
the  accessibility  of  this  inexhaustible  coal  sup- 
ply. 

The  old  man's  story  ran  thus: 

"Wine's  good  in  wintry  weather. 

Up  the  hillside  near  the  heather, 

Go  and  gather  the  black  earth, 

It  shall  give  your  fire  birth. 
Ill  fares  the  hide  when  the  buckler  wants  mending, 
111  fares  the  plough  when  the  coulter  wants  tending." 

When  Liege,  through  its  prosperity,  had 
grown  to  good  proportions,  its  government 
was  assigned  to  a  sort  of  prelate-proprietor. 

These  princely  prelates  were  often  but  lads 
of  eighteen  or  twenty,  who  became  identified 
with  the  Church,  frequently  enough,  simply 
because  of  the  power  it  gave  them. 

The  craftsmen  and  artisans  of  the  city 
bought  many  rights  from  time  to  time  from 
the  bishops,  and  finally  wrested  the  power 
from  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Church,  much 

297 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

as  did  the  burghers  of  other  cities  from  their 
feudal  lords. 

Then  followed  the  struggle,  which  in  Flan- 
ders raged  perhaps  more  bitterly  than  else- 
where in  Europe;  the  rising,  where  the 
many  fought  against  the  privileged  few,  and 
much  riot  and  bloodshed  was  caused  on  all 
sides. 

Then  came  first  the  burgher  heroes  of 
Liege,  who,  like  their  confreres  in  Ghent  and 
Bruges,  found  in  many  instances  the  martyr- 
dom of  the  patriot. 

In  the  Place  St.  Lambert  formerly  stood 
—  until  1801,  when  it  was  removed  after  hav- 
ing been  damaged  by  a  mob  —  the  former 
cathedral  of  St.  Lambert,  which  took  its  name 
from  the  first  bishop  of  Liege.  This  ancient 
cathedral  was  of  much  grandeur  and  magnif- 
icence, attributes  which  the  present  cathedral 
of  St.  Paul  decidedly  lacks. 

It  was  in  this  venerable  cathedral  of  St. 
Lambert  that  Quentin  Durward  went  to  hear 
mass,  as  we  learn  from  Scott's  novel,  and  here 
also,  after  the  famous  siege  of  Liege  by 
Louis  XI.  and  Charles  the  Bold,  the  two 
princes  themselves  repaired  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. St.  Lambert  of  Liege  and  the  three 
Kings  of  Cologne  were,  it  would  appear,  the 

298 


Cathedrals  and  Chttrches  of  the  Rhine 

chief  patrons  to  whom  Quentin  and  his  early 
followers  made  their  vows. 

The  bishopric  was  founded  by  Heraclius  in 
968,  and  a  church,  of  which  the  present  choir 
is  a  part,  was  built  upon  the  site  of  the 
present  St.  Paul's  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  see  was  formerly  a  suffragan  of  Cologne, 
and  the  only  bishopric  in  the  Low  Countries 
except  Tournai  and  Utrecht. 

The  present  cathedral  is  consistently  enough 
a  Gothic  church,  but  it  is  not  a  satisfactory 
example,  in  spite  of  its  magnificent  propor- 
tions. 

Of  a  cruciform  plan,  and  with  a  nave  which 
was  only  completed  in  1528,  it  is  a  poor  apol- 
ogy for  a  great  Gothic  church,  such  as  we 
know  at  Metz,  Nancy,  or  even  at  Brussels. 

Its  western  tower,  satisfactory  enough  in 
itself,  is  crowned  with  a  ludicrous  spire,  which 
dates  only  from  1812. 

Since  St.  Lambert's  has  disappeared,  and 
the  present  St.  Paul's  dates  only  from  the 
ante-Revolutionary  days,  the  chief  ecclesias- 
tical treasure  of  the  city  is  the  Eglise  St. 
Jacques.  It  was  founded  in  1014  by  the 
Bishop  Baudry  II.,  but  the  Romanesque  tower 
to  the  west  is  of  the  century  following,  and  the 


299 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

whole    fabric    was    very    much    modified    in 

1513-38. 

It    is    a    magnificent    flamboyant    Gothic 

church  of  quite  the  first  rank,  when  compared 

with  others  of  its  kind  elsewhere. 

It  has  an  ample  nave  and  aisles  with  a 
polygonal  choir  and  a  series  of  radiating  chap- 
els which  are  singularly  beautiful. 

The  magnificent  north  portal  is  an  addition 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  interior  has  been  called  Spanish  in  its 
motive.  Certainly  it  is  not  quite  like  any 
other  Gothic  forms  we  know  in  these  parts, 
and  does  bear  some  resemblance  to  that  pecul- 
iar variety  of  Gothic  which  belongs  to 
Spain. 

The  choir  has  some  fine  glass  showing  the 
armorial  bearings  of  former  patrons  of  the 
church. 

There  is  a  beautiful  carved  stone  staircase 
and  much  sculptured  stonework  in  the  choir. 

The  organ-bufifet  is  ornate,  even  of  its  kind, 
—  a  masterpiece  of  cabinet-making,  —  and 
was  the  work  of  Andre  Severin  of  Maestricht 
in  1673. 

The  left  transept,  which  is  some  thirty  feet 
longer  than  the  right,  has  a  fine  painting  of 
a   "  Mater  Dolorosa,"   while,   opposite,   is   a 

^00 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

stone  monument  to  the  founder  of  the  church, 
Baudry  11. ,  of  Renaissance  workmanship. 

St.  Jean  is  another  pre-tenth-century  foun- 
dation of  the  Bishop  Notger,  somewhat  after 
the  plan  of  the  "  round  church  "  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle.  It  was  entirely  rebuilt,  however, 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  though  the  original 
octagon  was  kept  intact. 

At  some  distance  from  the  city,  on  a  height 
which  may  be  truly  called  dominating,  is  the 
church  of  St.  Martin,  founded  in  962,  and 
reconstructed,  after  the  Gothic  manner  of  the 
time,  contemporary  with  St.  Jacques.  Of 
recent  times  it  has  been  restored.  If  any  sep- 
aration or  division  of  its  parts  can  be  made, 
one  concludes  that  the  choir  is  German,  and 
its  nave  French. 

In  1246  there  was  held  in  this  church  a 
Fete  Dieu  following  upon  a  vision  of  Ste. 
Julienne,  the  abbess  of  Cornillon  near  Liege. 
The  fete  was  ordained  by  Pope  Urbain  IV., 
who  himself  had  been  a  canon  of  the  cathedral 
of  Liege. 

Ste.  Croix  was  another  of  Notger's  founda- 
tions, in  979,  on  the  site  of  an  ancient  cha- 
teau. 

The  choir  was  built  toward  1175,  and  has 
an  octagonal  tower  with  a  gallery  of  small 

301 


Cathedrals  and  C/utrches  of  the  Rhine 

columns  just  under  the  roof,  after  the  manner 
known  as  distinctly  Rhenish. 

The  church  exhibits  thoroughly  that  Rhine 
manner  of  building  which  made  combined  use 
of  the  Gothic  and  Romanesque,  —  in  bewil- 
dering fashion,  to  one  who  has  previously 
known  only  the  comparatively  pure  types  of 
France. 

The  nave  and  its  aisles  rise  to  the  same 
height,  but  the  apsidal  choir  is  aisleless. 

The  general  effect  of  the  interior  is  light 
and  graceful,  with  circular  columns  in  a  blue- 
gray  stone,  which  is  very  beautiful. 

A  series  of  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century 
"  Stations  of  the  Cross  "  fill  the  arches  of  the 
transepts;  quite  an  unusual  arrangement  of 
this  feature,  and  one  which  seems  wtU  con- 
sidered. 

St.  Barthelemy's  is  Liege's  other  great 
church.  It  is  a  basilica  of  five  naves  and  two 
Romanesque  towers.  It  dates  in  reality  from 
the  twelfth  century,  but  has  been  greatly  mod- 
ernized. 

St.  Barthelemy's  might  have  been  a  highly 
interesting  example  of  a  Romanesque  church 
had  it  not  been  desecrated  by  late  Italian  de- 
tails. 

St.  Barthelemy's  has  a  twelfth-century  art 
302 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

treasure  in  a  brazen  font,  cast  in  1 112  by  Pa- 
tras,  a  brass-founder  of  Dinant  on  the  Meuse. 
Its  bowl  depicts  five  baptismal  scenes  in  high 
relief,  each  accompanied  by  a  descriptive 
legend.  Upon  the  rim  of  the  bowl  is  the  fol- 
lowing legend: 

''  Bissenis  bobus  pastorum  forma  notatur^ 
^uos  et  apostolice  commendat  gratia  vite, 
Officiiq  ;  gradus  quo  Jiu minis  impetus  hujus 
Letificat  sanctam  purgatis  civibus  urbem." 


303 


XXIX 

DUSSELDORF,  NEUSS,  AND  MUNCHEN- 
GLADBACH 

Dusseldorf 

Among  aesthetic  people  in  general,  Diissel- 
dorf  is  revered  —  or  was  revered,  though  the 
time  has  long  since  passed  —  for  that  style 
of  pictorial  art  known  to  the  world  as  the 
Dusseldorf  School. 

A  remarkably  good  collection  of  pictures 
remains  in  its  art  gallery  to  remind  us  of  the 
fame  of  Dusseldorf  as  an  art  centre,  but  to-day 
its  art  has  become  "  old-fashioned,"  and  the 
gay  little  metropolis  has  many,  if  more 
worldly,  counter  attractions. 

Dusseldorf  takes  its  name  from  the  little 
river  Diissel  which  joins  the  Rhine  at  this 
point. 

The  French  guide-books  call  Dusseldorf 
the  ^^ plus  coquettes  des  bords  du  Rhin  " ;  and 
so  it  really  is,  for  few  tourists  go  there  for  its 

304 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

churches  alone,  though  they  are  by  no  means 
squalid  or  inferior. 

The  city  was  the  residence  of  the  Counts, 
afterward  the  Dukes,  of  Berg — for  it  was 
made  a  duchy  by  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus  — 
from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  to  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth. 

In  1806  Napoleon  made  it  the  capital  of 
a  new^  Grand  Duchy  of  Berg  in  favour  of 
Joachim  Murat.  By  the  treaty  of  18 15  Dus- 
seldorf  fell  to  Prussia,  and  became  the  chief 
town  of  the  regency  of  Diisseldorf,  and  the 
seat  of  a  superior  court  of  justice. 

Occupying  the  site  that  it  does,  on  the  banks 
of  a  great  waterway,  the  city  naturally  became 
the  centre  of  an  important  commerce. 

Diisseldorf  is  the  birthplace  of  many  who 
have  borne  great  names;  of  the  philosopher 
Jacobi  and  his  poet  brother;  the  Baron  de 
Hompesch,  the  last  grand  master  of  the  Order 
of  Malta;  Von  Ense,  the  eminent  litterateur; 
the  poet  Heinrich  Heine  (who  died  at  Paris 
in  1855),  and  the  painters  Cornelius,  Lenzen, 
and  Achembach. 

The  principal  church  edifice  is  that  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Lambert,  the  Hofkirche.  It  has 
a  strong  and  hardy  tower,  very  tall,  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  slate-covered  spire.    The  ogival 

305 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

style  predominates,  and  the  fabric  dates  mostly 
from  the  fourteenth  century.  Its  chief  feature 
is  its  choir,  which  is  far  more  ample  and  beau- 
tiful than  the  nave.  The  rest  of  the  edifice 
fails  to  express  any  very  high  ideals  of  church- 
building. 

At  the  foot  of  the  apside,  behind  the  choir, 
is  a  mausoleum  erected  in  the  seventeenth 
century  for  the  elector,  John  Wilhelm,  who 
died  in  1690. 

In  the  ambulatory  of  the  choir  is,  on  the 
left,  a  florid  Gothic  tabernacle,  and  by  the 
second  pillar  of  the  nave  is  a  colossal  statue 
of  St.  Christopher.  There  are  many  tombs 
of  Jacobeans,  and  of  the  Dukes  of  Berg. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  paintings  by 
Diisseldorf  artists  scattered  about  the  church, 
but  they  have  not  the  qualities  exhibited  by 
the  old  Flemish  masters,  and  are  hardly 
worthy  of  remark. 

On  the  exterior  of  the  southern  wall  is  af- 
fixed an  immense  Calvary,  which  is  theatrical 
in  the  extreme,  and  is  not  dignified  nor 
churchly. 

The  Jesuit  church  Is  not  remarkable  archi- 
tecturally, but  there  are  a  number  of  tombs 
therein  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Neu- 
bourg. 

306 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  R  J  line 

The  ruins  of  the  ancient  chateau  of  Diissel- 
dorf  suggest  but  faintly  its  former  glories 
before  it  was  destroyed  by  the  French  bom- 
bardment of  the  city  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

It  has  been  restored,  in  a  way,  but  with 
little  regard  for  historical  traditions,  and  a 
part  of  the  edifice  was  made  the  home  of  the 
famous  Diisseldorf  academy  of  painting, 
founded  in  1777  by  Charles  Theodore  and 
reestablished  in  1822.  It  gave  birth  to  a  cele- 
brated school  of  painting,  now  all  but  dead. 
Among  the  famous  and  well-known  names 
connected  therewith  are:  Cornelius,  Schadow, 
Lessing,  Schirmer,  Hildebrand,  and  Koehler; 
the  American,  Lentzen;  the  Norwegians, 
Tiedemann  and  Gude;  the  landscape  paint- 
ers, Weber  and  Fay;  and  the  historical  paint- 
ers, Knaus,  Hubner,  and  Scheuren;  and 
finally  the  celebrated  engraver,  Keller. 

The  museum  and  the  gallery  of  paintings 
are  still  superb,  and  form  a  contribution  to  the 
history  of  the  art  of  all  ages  which  would  be 
quite  incomplete  without  it. 

There  are  ten  churches  in  Diisseldorf,  and 
a  synagogue,  but  in  truth  there  is  not  much  of 
interest  in  them  all,  and  the  "  handsomest  city 
of  Germany  "  must  rest  its  fame  on  something 
more  than  its  appeal  to  the  lover  of  churches. 

307 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

Neuss 

There  is  not  much  about  the  compact, 
though  rather  ungainly,  little  city  of  Neuss  to 
interest  any  but  the  lover  of  churches,  though 
its  history  is  very  ancient,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  its  patronymic  through  Novesium, 
Niusa,  and  Nova  Castra  bespeaks  volumes  for 
the  part  it  has  played  in  the  past. 

Its  origin  dates  back  to  the  time  of  Drusus, 
and  it  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus  as  the  winter 
quarters  of  the  Roman  Army.  The  city 
was  ravaged  by  Attila  in  451,  and  by  the 
Normans  in  the  ninth  century.  Emperor 
Philip  of  Suabia  captured  it  in  1206,  and  gave 
it  to  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne.  A  chapter 
of  nobles  was  founded  here  in  825,  and  Count 
Evrard  of  Cleves  and  Bertha,  his  wife, 
erected,  in  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  its  principal  church  dedicated  to  St. 
Quirinus. 

This  church  stands  to-day,  with  its  great 
square  tower  looming  bulkily  over  the  house- 
tops, and  is  reckoned  as  the  prototype  of  many 
similar  structures  elsewhere.  It  has  the  al- 
most perfect  disposition  and  development  of 
the  double  apse  so  frequently  met  with  in 
German  churches. 

308 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  general,  its  architecture  is  of  a  heavy 
order,  and  the  whole  structure  is  grim,  though 
by  no  means  gaunt  nor  cold. 


,^^ 


St.  Quirinus  is  of  the  epoch  when  the  Ro- 
manesque was  being  replaced  nearly  every- 
where by  the  new-coming  Gothic. 

309 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  spite  of  this,  its  style  is,  curiously  enough, 
neither  one  nor  the  other,  nor  is  it  transition, 
though  the  pointed  arch  has  crept  in  and  often 
eliminated  the  Romanesque  attributes  of  the 
round-arch  style  round  about.  It  is  manifestly 
not  transition,  because  there  was  no  transition 
here  from  Romanesque  to  Gothic.  It  re- 
mained palpably  Romanesque  in  spite  of 
Gothic  interpolations. 

In  the  windows  one  can  but  remark  the 
indecision  which  prompted  the  builders  to 
fashion  them  in  such  extraordinary  squat 
shapes,  and  they  certainly  serve  their  purpose 
of  lighting  the  interior  very  badly. 

The  nave  and  aisles  of  St.  Quirinus  are 
ample,  and  its  spacious  mdnnerchore  in  the 
triforium  is  like  all  its  fellows  in  the  German 
churches,  an  adjunct  which  adds  to  the  general 
effect  of  size. 

The  church  dates  from  1209,  the  period 
when  the  Gothic  influence  was  not  only  mak- 
ing itself  felt  over  the  border,  in  the  domain 
of  France  and  Burgundy,  but  was  already  ex- 
tending its  influence  elsewhere.  But  here, 
westward  even  of  the  borders  of  the  Rhine, 
the  round  arch  lingered  on,  to  the  exclusion 
of  any  very  marked  Gothic  tendency. 

There  is  an  inscription  in  stone  on  the  south 
310 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

wall  of  the  church  which  places  the  date  of 
its  erection  beyond  all  doubt.    It  reads  thus : 

ANNO  .  INCARNA. 
DNI  .  MC.C.V.I.I.I.I. 

PMO  .  IPERII  .  AN 
NO  .  OTTONIS  .  A 

DOLFO . COLON 

EPO  .  SOPHIA  .  A 

BBA  .  MAGISTER 

WOLBERO  .  PO 

SUIT  .  PMU  .  LAP 

IDE . FUNDAME 

NTI  .  HUI  .  TEM 

PLI  .  I  .  DIE  .  SCI  .  DI 

*ONISlI  .  MAR. 

When  a  former  Count  of  Cleves  founded 
the  primitive  church  here  in  the  ninth  century, 
it  was  a  collegiate  church  attached  to  the 
abbey  of  which  the  mother  superior  was  the 
Abbess  Sophia,  presumably  the  same  referred 
to  in  the  above  inscription.  The  abbey  itself 
was  destroyed  in  1199  during  a  civil  warfare. 

Though  not  really  a  massive  structure,  the 
church  of  St.  Quirinus  is,  in  every  particular, 
of  a  strength  and  solidity  which  rank  it  as 
a  masterwork  of  its  age.     There  is  nothing 

311 


Cathedrals  and  Chtirches  of  the  Rhine 

weak  and  attenuated  about  it,  and  its  transepts 
and  apses  make  up  in  general  effect  what  it 
lacks  in  actual  area. 

The  facade  is  imposing,  though  decidedly 
bizarre  when  compared  with  the  simple  flow- 
ing lines  of  Gothic;  but,  on  the  whole,  the 
effect  is  one  of  a  certain  grandeur. 

The  aisles  are  astonishingly  tall  when  com- 
pared with  the  nave. 

There  are  various  meetings  of  round-arched 
windows  and  arcades  with  those  of  a  pointed 
nature,  but  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence 
of  a  development  or  transition  from  one  to 
the  other,  hence  the  Gothic  strain  may  be  said 
not  to  exist. 

The  general  effect  of  the  exterior  is  poly- 
chromatic, which  is  not  according  to  the  best 
conceptions  of  ecclesiastical  decorations  in  ar- 
chitecture. A  twilight  or  a  moonlight  view, 
however,  tones  it  all  down  in  a  manner  that 
makes  the  fabric  appear  quite  the  most  im- 
posing church  of  its  size  that  one  may  find 
in  these  parts. 

The  great  central  tower,  reminiscent  enough 
of  the  parish  church  in  England,  but  not  so 
frequent  in  Germany,  and  still  less  so  in 
France,  forms  a  great  lantern  which  rises  over 
the  crossing  in  a  marvellous  and  exceedingly 

312 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

practical  manner,  in  that  it  affords  about  the 
only  adequate  means  of  admitting  light  into 
the  interior. 

The  triforium  of  the  nave  is  the  chief  in- 
terior feature  to  be  remarked,  and  is  most 
spaciously  planned.  It  forms  the  manner- 
chore  before  mentioned. 

The  clerestory  windows  are  decidedly 
Rhenish  in  character,  resembling,  says  one 
antiquary,  who  is  a  humourist  if  nothing  else, 
an  ace  of  clubs.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a  most  un- 
usual and  inefficient  manner  of  lighting  a 
great  church-.  These  windows  are  practically 
trefoils  of  most  unsymmetrical  proportions, 
and  are  in  every  way  unlovely. 

The  choir  is  raised  on  a  platform,  beneath 
which  is  the  crypt.  Three  flights  of  steps  lead 
to  this  platform,  which  gives  it  a  far  more 
grand  appearance  than  its  actual  dimensions 
would  otherwise  allow. 

The  choir-stalls  are  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  are  the  only  mediaeval  furnishings 
to  be  seen  in  the  church  to-day. 

The  apses  contain  only  moderately  effective 
glass. 

The  frescoes  in  the  cupola  of  St.  Quirinus, 
which  are  the  work  of  Cornelius  of  Diisseldorf 
(about  1811),   are  most  interesting,  and  are, 

313 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

among  the  most  successful  of  the  great  num- 
ber of  modern  works  of  their  kind  to  be  seen 
in  Germany. 

Munchen-Gladbach 

Miinchen-Gladbach  is  one  of  those  "  snug  " 
little  German  towns  that  one  comes  across  now 
and  then  when  wandering  along  off  the  beaten 
track.  Its  streets  are  trim  and  clean,  and  its 
houses  likewise,  with  a  brilliancy  of  fresh 
paint  which  is  consistently  and  proverbially 
Dutch.  Beneath  one's  foot  is  a  sea  of  cobble- 
stones all  worn  to  a  smoothness  which  argues 
the  tramp  of  countless  hordes  of  feet  over  cen- 
turies of  time,  if  paving-stones  have  really 
been  invented  so  long.  With  all  its  air  of 
prosperity  and  providence,  Miinchen-Glad- 
bach is  not  a  highly  interesting  town  in  which 
to  linger. 

Its  name  is  compounded  of  its  prefix,  mean- 
ing monk's,  with  its  original  patronymic, 
Gladbach.  The  monks  of  Gladbach  were  a 
part  of  the  establishment  which  founded  the 
minster  church  of  Gladbach,  an  old  abbey 
or  monastic  edifice  which  stands  to-day,  a 
great  transeptless  thirteenth-century  structure 
with  an  elevated  choir  reached  from  the  nave 
by  two  flights  of  ten  or  a  dozen  steps. 

314 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  crypt  is  entered  from  between  these 
two  flights  of  steps,  and  forms  all  that  is  left 
to  mark  the  primitive  church. 

The  round-arched  style  and  Gothic,  of  a 
sort,  intermingle  in  the  nave  in  bewildering 
fashion  until  one  wonders  in  what  classifica- 
tion it  really  belongs.  The  openings  from  the 
aisles  to  the  nave  are  pointed,  while  above  is 
an  unpierced  triforium  with  a  clerestory  of 
round-headed  arches. 

In  the  aisles  are  what  Jacobean  architects 
called  fanlights,  a  series  of  peculiarly  shaped 
openings  like  an  oddly  shaped  fan.  They  are 
distinctly  Rhenish;  indeed  they  are  not  ac- 
knowledged to  be  found  elsewhere,  and  hence 
may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  chief  points 
of  distinction  of  this  otherwise  not  remarkably 
appealing  church. 

There  are  no  aisles  in  the  choir,  which  dates 
from  the  thirteenth  century  and  terminates 
with  a  multi-sided  apse  pierced  by  long  lancet 
windows. 

The  Stadt  Kirche  of  Gladbach,  or  the  par- 
ish church  as  it  properly  takes  rank,  is  still 
a  Catholic  edifice  and  shows  the  advantage  of 
having  been  kept  in  active  use.  There  is  noth- 
ing musty  or  moss-grown  about  it,  but  in  every 


315 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

way  it  is  as  warmly  appealing  as  the  monks' 
church  is  coldly  unattractive. 

There  is  no  marked  choir  termination,  its 
great  aisles  extending  completely  to  the  rear 
with  just  a  suspicion  of  a  rudimentary  pentag- 
onal apse  to  suggest  the  easterly  end.  This  is 
a  common  enough  arrangement  in  German 
churches,  which  more  frequently  than  not,  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  the  date  of  this  struc- 
ture, possessed  nothing  but  a  squared-off  east 
end,  after  the  English  manner  of  building. 

At  the  westerly  end  is  a  well-planned  tower 
distinctly  Rhenish  —  if  it  were  not  it  would 
be  thought  heavy  —  and  where  the  choir  is 
supposed  to  join  the  nave  the  roof  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  tiny  spire,  which,  in  truth,  is 
no  addition  of  beauty. 

The  interior  shows  great  height,  and,  if  of 
no  great  architectural  splendour,  has  enough 
mural  embellishment  and  attractive  glass  to 
stamp  it  as  a  livable  and  lovable  edifice  for 
religious  worship,  which  is  a  good  deal  more 
than  most  modern  church  buildings  ever  ac- 
quire. 

The  six  bays  of  the  nave  show  pointed 
arches  springing  from  rounded  columns. 
There  is  an  arcaded  triforium,  and  an  elab- 
orate series  of  clerestory  windows  which  show 

316 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

the  geometrical  and  flamboyant  Gothic  in  its 
perfection. 

The  apse  is  lighted  with  five  windows  of 
great  height.  The  glass  is  a  mixture  of  colour 
and  monotone,  but  the  effect  is  undeniably 
good. 

The  chancel  is  so  shallow  that  the  choir 
flows  over,  as  it  were,  into  one  bay  of  the  nave, 
while  the  choir-stalls  themselves  are  placed 
in  the  aisles.  Certainly  a  most  unusual,  and 
perhaps  a  unique,  arrangement. 

An  altar  fronts  the  west  end  of  either  range 
of  stalls,  and  back,  at  the  easterly  end  of  the 
aisles,  is  found  another  altar. 

The  high  altar  has  a  handsome  modern 
screen  in  the  form  of  a  gilt  triptych,  which 
is  singularly  effective  and  imposing. 

Beneath  the  tower,  at  the  westerly  end,  is 
the  baptistery,  entrance  to  which  from  the 
body  of  the  church  is  gained  through  a  low, 
pointed  arch. 


XXX 

ESSEN  AND  DORTMUND 
Essen 

Lying  just  to  the  eastward  of  the  Rhine  are 
Essen  and  Dortmund. 

The  former  was  once  the  site  of  a  powerful 
abbey  of  Benedictine  nuns,  which  was  dis- 
solved in  1803.  The  abbess  of  Essen  was  al- 
ways a  titled  person,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Westphalian  circle  of  the  Imperial  Es- 
tates, in  which  capacity  she  held  a  governing 
right  over  a  large  tract  of  country  immediately 
surrounding  the  abbey. 

There  are  the  spires  of  five  churches  hidden 
away  in  the  forest  of  chimneys  of  the  manu- 
factories of  Essen  which  rise  skyward  from 
the  Rhineland  plain.  It  is  not  a  very  beautiful 
picture  that  one  sees  from  across  the  railway 
viaduct,  but  a  remarkable  one,  and  one  that 
has  undeniable  elements  of  the  picturesque. 

The  cathedral  at  Essen  is  a  conglomerate 
group   of   buildings   of   many   epochs.     The 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

church  proper  consists  of  a  three-aisled  nave, 
with  the  usual  choir  appendage  in  what  must 
pass  for  acceptable  Gothic. 

There  are  Romanesque  features  which  date 
back  as  far  as  874,  when  the  original  edifice 
was  built  by  Bishop  Alfred  of  Hildesheim. 
The  crypt,  the  transept,  and  possibly  a  part 
of  the  choir  foundation,  are  of  the  eleventh 
century,  and  are  of  Romanesque  motive;  but 
the  Gothic  fabric  superimposes  itself  upon 
these  early  works  in  the  style  in  vogue  in  the 
fourteenth  century. 

There  are  evidences  of  a  central  octagon, 
like  that  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  St.  Gereon's 
at  Cologne,  but  the  fourteenth-century  re- 
building has  practically  covered  this  up, 
though  three  of  the  original  faces  are  left, 
and  bear  aloft  a  series  of  tall  Corinthian  col- 
umns. , 

The  nave,  for  some  reason,  inexplicable  on 
first  sight,  is  low  and  unimpressive,  caused 
doubtless  by  the  grandeur  of  the  supporting 
pillars  of  the  roof  and  the  shallowness  of  the 
groining  above. 

The  pillars  are  single  cylinders  with  curi- 
ously plain  capitals. 

The  choir  rises  a  few  steps  above  the  nave 
pavement,  in  order  to  give  height  to  the  crypt 

319 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ambulatory,   as   is  frequently   the   custom   in 
German  churches. 

The  windows  of  the  south  aisle  are  good 
in  their  design  and  glass,  which,  though  mod- 
ern, reflects  the  Gothic  mediaeval  spirit  far 
better  than  is  usual. 

There  is  an  elevated  gallery  along  the  aisle 
walls,  which  forms  a  sort  of  tribune  or  mdn- 
nerchore.  In  one  of  the  recesses  beneath  the 
gallery  is  a  highly  coloured  sculpture  group 
of  an  "  Entombment." 

The  easterly  portion  of  the  cathedral  is  by 
far  the  most  pleasing,  and  partakes  of  the  best 
Gothic  features,  and  indeed  is  far  superior  to 
the  nave.  The  supporting  columns  of  the 
vaulting  have  foliaged  capitals,  while  the 
vaulting  itself  is  even  more  elaborate. 

The  aisles,  as  they  approach  the  choir,  are 
rectangular-ended,  and  extend  quite  to  the  end 
of  the  choir  termination,  showing  a  very  sin- 
gular cross-section  of  this  portion  of  the 
church. 

The  screen  is  a  modern  stone  work  after  the 
Gothic  manner.  It  sits  beneath  a  not  unbeau- 
tiful  Gothic  window,  rather  richly  traceried 
with  four  lights.  The  glass  of  this  window 
is  modern,  but,  like  that  in  the  nave  aisles, 
is  excellent. 

-^20 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhme 

The  crypt  is  entered  from  the  south  tran- 
sept, and  also  from  the  nave  by  an  entrance 
which  passes  between  the  steps  which  rise  to 
the  choir  pavement. 


;si2iS^ 


There  is  an  elaborate  seven-branched  can- 
dlestick at  the  juncture  of  the  nave  and  choir, 
modelled  on  one  known  to  have  existed  in 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  It  is  of  the  con- 
ventional form,  but  is  a  rare  piece  of  church 

321 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

furniture  in  that  it  dates  from  1003,  when  it 
was  presented  by  the  Abbess  Matilda,  sister 
of  the  Emperor  Otho  II.  Since  it  stands  six 
or  eight  feet  in  height,  this  candlestick  is  a 
notable  and  conspicuous  object. 

Before  the  steps  leading  to  the  crypt  is  the 
tomb  of  Bishop  Alfred  of  Hildesheim.  The 
crypt  is  all  that  a  crypt  should  be,  —  a  dim- 
lighted,  solemn  chamber  of  five  aisles,  the 
pavement  of  the  church  above  being  supported 
on  stubby  square  pillars.  It  is  used  also  for 
devotional  purposes,  the  altar  at  the  easterly 
end  of  the  central  aisle  bearing  the  inscription, 
"  Heilige  Maria,  Trosterin  der  Betrubten, 
bitt  fur  uns." 

The  cloisters  of  this  interesting  edifice  are, 
in  part,  of  the  primitive  style  of  early  Gothic, 
while  the  southern  and  western  sides  are  an 
approach  to  the  full-blown  Gothic  of  a  later 
epoch,  with  foliaged  capitals. 

Dortmund 

Dortmund  is  the  largest  town  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Westphalia,  and  possesses  four  medi- 
aeval churches  of  more  than  usual  interest. 

St.  Reinhold's  is  the  chief,  and  is  a  cruci- 
form edifice  of  more  than  ordinary  propor- 

322 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

tions.  It  is  a  picturesque  melange  of  many- 
parts.  Its  western  tower  is  of  no  style  in 
particular,  and  is  hideous,  but  most  curious 
considering  its  environment.  The  nave  and 
transepts  are  supposedly  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, but  they  are  certainly  not  good  Gothic 
as  we  know  it  elsewhere. 

The  choir  is  of  the  early  fifteenth  century, 
and  is  much  more  gracefully  conceived  than 
is  any  other  portion  of  this  nondescript  edifice. 

The  transepts  are  square  boxlike  protuber- 
ances, which  link  the  choir  with  the  nave  in 
most  unappealing  fashion. 

In  the  interior  the  most  astonishing  features 
are  the  low  truncated  nave  of  three  bays,  the 
grimness  of  the  walls  of  the  entire  fabric, — 
excepting  the  well-lighted  and  aspiring  choir, 
—  and  the  straight-backed  pews. 

The  clerestory  windows  of  the  nave  are 
semicircular,  but  the  aisles  are  lighted  by 
Gothic  openings. 

There  are  two  altars,  one  at  the  choir  en- 
trance and  the  other  in  the  apse,  each  sur- 
mounted by  a  triptych. 

The  windows  of  the  choir-apse,  tall,  ample, 
and  of  admirable  framing,  are  the  chief  glory 
of  this  not  very  beautiful,  though  interesting, 
church. 

323 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

St.  Mary's  is  a  late  twelfth-century  Roman- 
esque structure,  without  transepts,  but  pos- 
sessed of  a  towering  apsidal  choir. 

The  nave  is  an  attenuated  afifair  with  no 
triforium,  leaving  a  vast  blank  wall  space,  as 
though  it  were  intended  to  have  been  dec- 
orated. 

Dortmund's  "  Pfarr  Kirche  "  was  a  former 
Dominican  foundation.  Its  general  propor- 
tions are  far  greater  than  those  of  any  other 
of  the  city's  churches.  The  nave  is  ample, 
and  the  great  choir  of  four  bays,  with  spacious, 
lofty  windows,  is  of  the  same  generous  pro- 
portions. 

The  church  dates  only  from  the  mid-four- 
teenth century,  and  its  three-bayed  nave  is 
even  later.  The  aisles  of  the  nave  are  curi- 
ous in  that  they  are  not  of  similar  dimensions. 
That  on  the  street  side  is  separated  from  the 
nave  proper  by  square  piers,  with  a  slender 
shaft  running  to  the  vaulting.  The  other  aisle 
is  more  ample,  and  has  its  arched  openings 
to  the  nave  composed  of  four  shafts  super- 
imposed upon  a  central  cylinder. 

The  nave  lighting  is  amply  provided  for 
by  a  series  of  four  light  windows,  bare,  how- 
ever, of  any  glass  worthy  of  remark. 

The  south  wall,  which  has  no  windows,  has 
3^4 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

two  large  frescoes,  a  "  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  "  and  an  "  Assumption."  There  is  also 
a  series  of  paintings  by  two  native  artists, 
Heinrich  and  Victor  Dunwege. 


325 


XXXI 

EMMERICH,  CLEVES,  AND  XANTEN 
Emmerich  and  Cleves 

Just  below  Emmerich,  which  is  the  last  of 
the  German  Rhenish  cities,  the  Rhine  divides 
itself,  and,  branching  to  the  north,  takes  the 
Dutch  name  of  Oud  Rijn,  which  name,  with 
the  variation  Neder  Rijn,  it  retains  until  it 
reaches  the  sea.  The  branch  to  the  west  takes 
the  name  of  the  Waal  and  passes  on  through 
Nymegen,  bounding  Brabant  on  the  north, 
and  enters  the  sea  beyond  Dordrecht. 

Emmerich  has,  in  its  church  of  St.  Martin, 
a  tenth-century  church  of  no  great  architec- 
tural worth,  but  charming  to  contemplate, 
nevertheless. 

Four  kilometres  away  is  Cleves,  which, 
under  the  Romans,  was  known  as  Clivia  and 
attained  considerable  prominence  and  pros- 
perity. The  Normans  sacked  it  in  the  ninth 
century,  but  it  was  shortly  rebuilt,  and  became 

326 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  tJie  Rhine 

the  chief  town  of  the  County,  afterward  the 
Duchy,  of  Cleves. 

Under  the  Empire  the  city  belonged  to 
France.  The  town's  principal  church  is  quite 
attractive,  but,  beyond  the  distinction  which 
it  has  in  its  twin  spires,  terminating  a  singu- 
larly long  line  of  roof-top  of  nave  and  choir, 
there  are  no  architectural  features  of  note. 


Xanten 

At  a  little  distance  from  the  Rhine,  just 
before  the  frontier  of  Holland  is  reached,  is 
Xanten,  the  ancient  Ulpia  Castra.  Near  by, 
in  the  neighbouring  village  of  Mirten,  one 
sees  the  remains  of  an  ancient  amphitheatre, 
which  denotes  a  considerable  importance  for 
the  neighbourhood  in  Roman  times.  If  more 
proof  were  needed,  it  will  be  found  in  the 
museum  at  Bonn,  where  are  many  Roman  an- 
tiquities coming  from  the  neighbourhood. 

Xanten  is  celebrated  for  having  given  birth 
to  St.  Norbert,  the  founder  of  the  order  of 
Premonstratension  monks,  and  for  having 
been  the  cradle  of  Siegfried,  the  hero  of  the 
"  Nibelungen  Lied." 

The  city  was  captured  by  the  French  in 
1672. 

327 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  collegiate  church  of  Xanten  is  known 
as  St.  Victor's,  and  is  truly  celebrated  for  the 
grace  and  beauty  of  its  early  twelfth-century 
Gothic. 

Without  transepts  or  clerestory,  it  shows  in 
its  one  ample  chamber,  comprising  both  nave 
and  choir,  an  exemplification  of  the  art  of 
combining  the  accessories  of  the  Latin-cross 
structures  of  France  with  the  hall-church  idea 
so  frequently  met  with  in  Germany,  and  so 
well  recognized  as  a  distinct  German  type. 

This  arrangement  does  not  give  the  church 
the  appearance  of  being  in  any  way  confined 
or  limited;  quite  the  reverse  is  the  case,  and 
the  double  range  of  windows  in  the  apse  in- 
dicates, at  least,  a  loftiness  and  hardiness  of 
construction  which  is  highly  commendable. 

There  are,  moreover,  double  aisles  to  both 
nave  and  choir  which  give  an  ampleness  to 
the  interior  which  even  its  abundance  of  fur- 
nishings does  not  overcrowd. 

There  are  few  five-aisled  churches  such 
as  this  in  Germany,  or  indeed  elsewhere,  Co- 
logne being  Germany's  chief  example  in  this 
style. 

In  general,  the  Gothic  of  this  highly  inter- 
esting church  is  of  the  best,  though  it  dates 
from  various  periods.    The  primitive  church, 

328 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 


we  know,  was  a  Romanesque  structure;  but, 
beyond  the  foundations  of  the  western  towers, 
and  possibly  other  fragmentary  works  yet  hid- 
den, there  is  nothing  but  the  most  acceptable 
Gothic  in  evidence. 


S-UICT0R.'5 


A  distinctly  curious  feature  is  the  apse-sided 
termination  to  the  aisles,  radiating  from  the 
main  apse  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees. 
It  is  a  distinct  innovation  in  the  easterly  ter- 
mination of  a  church ;  a  sort  of  a  compromise 
between  the  French,  English,  and  German 
styles,  and  wholly  a  successful  one. 

329 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

In  the  chancel  is  a  sort  of  screen  before  the 
high  altar,  worked  in  brass  at  Maastricht  in 
1501. 

The  windows  contain  a  great  deal  of  beau- 
tiful old  glass,  and  some  other  that  is  by  no 
means  as  good. 

The  clerestory  windows  are  elaborately 
traceried,  and  there  is  much  detail  of  church 
furnishings,  a  choir  screen,  some  elaborate 
stalls,  a  little  tapestry,  —  which  looks  well  and 
is  certainly  old,  —  and  a  modern  tiled  floor 
which  is  not  ofifensive. 

As  is  frequently  seen  in  Germany,  the  pil- 
lars and  shafts  have  a  series  of  statues  super- 
imposed upon  them;  always  a  daring  thing 
to  do,  but  in  this  case  of  far  better  execution 
and  design  than  is  frequently  encountered. 
Before  the  church  is  a  monument  in  honour 
of  Cornelius  de  Pauw,  the  friend  of  the  great 
Frederick,  a  canon  of  the  church  and  a  famous 
spiritual  writer.  He  was  born  at  Amsterdam 
in  1739  and  died  at  Xanten  in  1799. 


330 


XXXII 

ARNHEIM,   UTRECHT,  AND  LEYDEN 

Arnheim 

The  Rhine  in  Holland  is  a  mighty  river. 
It  divides  itself  into  many  branches,  all  of 
which  make  their  way  to  the  sea  through  that 
country  which  Butler  in  the  "  Hudibras " 
calls: 

"  A  land  that  draws  fifty  feet  of  water, 
In  which  men  live  as  in  the  very  hold  of  nature. 
And  when  the  sea  does  in  upon  them  break, 
And  drowns  a  province,  does  but  spring  a  leak." 

The  Rhine  proper,  the  Oud  Rijn  and  the 
Neder  Rijn,  enfolds  three  great  ecclesiastical 
centres  of  other  days,  Arnheim,  Utrecht,  and 
Leyden. 

Arnheim  is  the  chief  town  of  the  Guelder- 
land,  and  seats  itself  proudly  on  the  banks  of 
the  Neder  Rijn  just  above  its  juncture  with 
the  Yssel.     Of  its  fifty-five  thousand  inhabit- 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ants,  twenty-five  thousand  are  Roman  Catho- 
lics, which  fact  makes  it  one  of  the  most 
strongly  Catholic  cities,  if  not  the  strongest, 
in  the  Netherlands. 

Formerly  the  city  was  known  as  the  Arena- 
cum  of  the  Romans,  and  served  as  the  resi- 
dence of  the  Dukes  of  the  Guelderland  up  to 
1538.  In  1579  it  gave  adherence  to  the 
"Union  of  Utrecht,"  and  in  1672  was  taken 
by  the  French,  when  it  became  one  of  the 
principal  fortresses  of  Holland.  To-day  the 
fortifications  serve  the  purpose  to  which  they 
are  so  frequently  devoted  in  the  cities  and 
towns  of  Continental  Europe,  and  form  a  fine 
series  of  promenades. 

In  1813  the  town  was  taken  by  the  Prussians, 
but  in  spite  of  all  this  changing  of  hands,  it 
remains  to-day  as  distinctly  Dutch  as  any  of 
the  Low  Country  cities  and  towns.  Its  houses 
are  well  built  of  brick  and  equally  well  kept, 
and  its  sidewalks  are  as  cleanly  and  well  cared 
for  as  the  courtyard  of  a  palace. 

To-day  the  aspect  of  Arnheim  is  that  of  a 
quaint  though  modern-looking  Dutch  city. 
It  is  a  favourite  place  of  residence  for  ^^mes- 
sieurs du  Sucre''  —  rich  Hollanders  and  Ori- 
entals from  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  Alto- 
gether the  atmosphere  of  its  streets  and  cafes 


o 


^ 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

is  decidedly  cosmopolitan  and  most  interest- 
ing. 

The  Groote  Kerk,  built  in  1452,  rises  from 
the  market-place  with  a  considerable  purity 
of  Gothic  style.  The  church  was  formerly 
dedicated  to  St.  Eusebe.  Its  tower  is  a  land- 
mark for  miles  around,  and  rises  to  a  height 
approximating  three  hundred  feet.  It  is  built 
of  brick  and  is  square  for  the  first  two  tiers, 
flanked  with  sustaining  buttresses,  then  it 
tapers  off  into  an  octagon.  It  contains  a  fine 
set  of  chimes,  so  frequently  an  adjunct  to  the 
churches  and  municipal  belfries  of  the  Low 
Countries. 

The  interior  presents  a  great  ogival  example 
of  the  best  of  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  century 
church-building. 

To-day,  since  the  church  belongs  to  the 
Protestants,  much  that  stood  for  symbolism  in 
the  Roman  Church  is  wanting,  and  the  pulpit, 
which  is  an  admirable  work  of  art  in  itself,  is 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  choir  surrounded 
by  numerous  tribunes,  or  seats  in  tiers,  in  quite 
a  parliamentary  and  non-churchly  fashion. 

Behind  the  choir  is  a  monument  to  Charles 
d'Egmont,  Duke  of  Guelderland,  who  died 
in  1538,  and  whose  tomb  is  at  Utrecht.  As 
a  work  of  art  this  monument  in  the  Groote 

333 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of.  the  Rhine 

Kerk  at  Arnheim  is  much  more  worthy  than 
such  monuments  usually  are. 

The  duke  is  represented  clothed  in  armour 
and  reclining  between  six  lions,  which  hold 
aloft  his  escutcheon. 

The  pedestal  is  ornamented  with  bas-reliefs 
representing  the  Holy  Family,  the  twelve 
apostles,  St.  Christopher,  and  two  other  saints. 
On  a  pillar  at  the  left  of  the  tomb  is  suspended, 
in  a  sort  of  wooden  cage,  another  figure  of  the 
same  prince.  The  effigy  is  of  painted  wood 
and  is  amazingly  lifelike,  though  smacking 
decidedly  of  the  figures  in  a  waxworks  exhi- 
bition. 

The  chevet  of  this  great  church  is  quite 
worthy  of  consideration,  though  by  no  means 
as  amply  endowed  as  the  French  variety  by 
which  one  comes  to  judge  all  others. 

Altogether,  except  for  the  poverty  of  deeply 
religious  symbolism  in  the  interior,  of  which 
it  has  doubtless  been  despoiled  since  the  Cath- 
olic religion  has  waned  in  its  power  here,  the 
church  is  a  lovely  and  lovable  example  of  the 
appealing  church  edifices  which  one  now  and 
then  comes  across  in  Continental  cities  of  the 
third  rank. 

The  Catholic  cult  occupy  the  church  of  St. 
Walburge,  a  Gothic  edifice  in  brick  of  the 

334 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

fourteenth  century.  At  the  portal  are  two 
great  symmetrical  towers  which  are  worthy 
of  a  far  more  important  edifice. 

The  interior  is  entirely  modern  as  to  its 
furnishings  and  fitments. 

On  four  pillars  of  the  nave  are  placed,  back 
to  back,  statues  of  the  evangelists,  —  a  species 
of  decorative  embellishment  which,  at  all 
times  since  the  fifteenth  century,  has  been 
greatly  favoured  throughout  Germany  and 
the  Low  Countries.  In  France  it  is  a  feature 
but  seldom  seen,  and,  among  the  smaller  parish 
churches,  has  almost  its  only  examples  at 
Vetheuil  on  the  Seine  below  Paris,  and  at 
Louviers. 

The  high  altar  is  modern,  as  are  also  the 
black  and  white  marble  baptismal  fonts. 

The  pulpit  is  quite  a  grand  affair,  though 
modern  also.  Its  sounding-board  shows  a 
figure  of  Moses  holding  aloft  the  tables  of 
the  law.  It  is  admirably  conceived  and  exe- 
cuted, and  is  of  much  artistic  merit. 

Arnheim  possesses  several  other  religious 
edifices;  but,  as  satisfactory  expressions  of 
ecclesiastical  art  or  architecture,  they  are  quite 
unworthy.  The  only  one  worthy  of  remark 
—  and  that  only  for  its  unseemliness  —  is  a 
modern   Protestant  place  of  worship  in  the 

335 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

form  of  a  vast  rotunda,  which  in  all  respects 
resembles  a  great  building  enclosing  a  pan- 
orama. 

Behind  the  chevet  of  the  Groote  Kerk,  the 
ancient  cathedral,  is  a  fine  old-time  house  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  known,  somewhat 
sacrilegiously  one  thinks,  as  the  Maison  du 
Diable,  and  was  formerly  the  residence  of  a 
famous  brigand  or  highwayman,  —  if  there  be 
any  subtle  distinction  between  the  two.  This 
brigand  was  moreover  of  the  nobility,  and  was 
known  as  Martens  van  Rosum,  Duke  of  the 
Guelderland.  In  front  of  the  house  is  a  min- 
iature terrace,  and,  on  the  walls  above,  to  the 
right,  are  three  monstrous  effigies  of  devils, 
as  well  as  one  of  a  woman.  In  the  centre, 
upon  a  pillar,  is  a  bust  of  Van  Rosum,  and  an 
inscription  to  the  efifect  that  the  house  was 
restored  in  1830.  To-day  it  is  occupied  by 
certain  municipal  offices. 

Utrecht 

In  many  respects  Utrecht  was,  in  the  past, 
the  most  important  city  in  Holland,  not  com- 
mercially, but  politically. 

To-dav  it  is  simply  the  capital  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Utrecht,  the  seat  of  a  Catholic  arch- 

^^6 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

bishop,  and  of  a  Jansenist  archbishop  as 
well. 

Of  its  population  of  quite  a  hundred  thou- 
sand souls,  one-third,  at  least,  are  of  the  Cath- 
olic profession,  which  is  an  astonishing  pro- 
portion for  a  city  of  Holland.  For  this  rea- 
son, perhaps,  the  city  remains  the  metropolis 
of  the  Catholic  religion  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  environs  of  the  city  are  exceedingly 
picturesque.  The  Rhine  again  divides  into 
two  branches,  the  Oud  Rijn  continuing  to  the 
North  Sea,  through  Leyden,  and  the  other 
branch,  known  thenceforth  as  the  Vecht,  flow- 
ing into  the  Zuyder  Zee. 

Utrecht  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities 
of  the  Netherlands,  having  been  founded 
under  Nero  by  a  Roman  Senator  named  An- 
tony, hence  it  is  frequently  referred  to  by  his- 
torians as  Antonia  Civitas. 

Its  name  in  time  evolved  itself  into  Tra- 
jectum  inferius  or  vetus,  and  in  the  Latin 
nomenclature  of  the  early  middle  ages,  it  be- 
came Ultrajectum,  or  Trajectum  Ultricen- 
sium.  Under  the  Franks  it  was  called  Wil- 
trecht,  which  was  but  a  short  step  to  the  name 
it  now  bears. 

King  Dagobert  here  founded  the  first 
church  in   Fricsland,  with   St.  Willibrod  as 

337 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

bishop,  and  St.  Boniface,  before  he  was  called 
to  Rome,  here  preached  evangelization. 

The  city  was  ruined  and  devastated  in  the 
seventh  century,  but  its  rebuilding  was  begun 
in  718  by  Clothaire  IV.  Toward  934  it  was 
surrounded  by  protecting  walls  by  Bishop 
Baldric  of  Cleves.  Utrecht  was  frequently 
made  the  residence  of  the  emperors,  and 
Charles  V.  there  built  the  chateau  of  Vree- 
burg,  a  species  of  fortress-chateau  that  was 
demolished  by  the  burghers  of  the  city  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  of  independence,  1577. 

Adrien  Florizoon,  the  preceptor  of  Charles 
v.,  who,  at  the  death  of  Leo  X.,  occupied  the 
pontifical  throne  in  1522-23  as  Adrien  VI., 
was  born  at  Utrecht.  His  house  (Paushui- 
zen)  on  the  banks  of  the  canal  Nieuwe  Gracht, 
now  a  government  building,  contains  many 
pictures  relative  to  his  life  and  times. 

For  a  long  time  the  city  was  only  a  bishop's 
seat,  but  in  1559  it  was  made  an  archbish- 
opric. 

When,  in  630,  Dagobert,  King  of  Austrasia, 
founded  a  chapel  here,  the  religious  founda- 
tion of  the  city  began,  and  as  early  as  in  696 
it  became  the  seat  of  a  bishop.  In  the  ninth 
century  the  Normans  sacked  the  town,  but 
thenceforth  the  bishops,  who  were  then  suf- 

338 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

fragans  of  Liege,  acquired  a  strength  and 
power  which  assured  the  city  freedom  from 
molestation  for  a  long  time. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  political  and  relig- 
ious dissension  combined  to  promote  a  state 
of  unrest  which  was  most  acute.  In  1577  the 
party  which  had  allied  itself  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange  introduced  religious  reform,  and 
in  1579  the  seven  provinces  of  Holland  formed 
their  compact  of  federation,  and  the  States 
General  held  their  sittings  here. 

The  Domkerk,  or  cathedral,  originally  ded- 
icated to  St.  Martin,  is  to-day  a  Protestant 
church.  It  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  primitive 
church  founded  in  630  by  Dagobert  I.,  and 
of  an  abbey  established  by  St.  Willibrod. 

The  cathedral  of  St.  Martin  was  rebuilt, 
after  a  fire  in  1024,  by  Bishop  Adebolde,  "  in 
the  presence  of  the  Emperor  Henry  II.  and 
many  other  great  personages,"  as  the  old 
chroniclers  have  it.  In  1257  it  was  nearly 
entirely  rebuilt  by  the  bishop  then  holding  the 
see,  Henri  of  Vianden,  but  a  great  storm 
crushed  in  its  nave  in  1674,  since  which  time 
the  faulty  juncture  of  the  various  parts  has 
been  sadly  apparent. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  nave,  the  choir 
and  the  transepts  formed  practically  the  en- 

339 


Cathedrals  and  Chitrclies  of  the  Rhine 

tire  building,  with  the  tower  existing  merely 
as  a  dismembered  and  orphaned  feature. 

The  tower  was  commenced  in  1331  and 
completed  in  1382.  It  rises  from  a  magnifi- 
cently vaulted  base.  The  lower  portion  is 
rectangular,  but  the  octagon  which  forms  the 
upper  stages  and  "  pierced  to  the  light  of 
day,"  as  the  French  have  it,  foUow^s  the  best 
accepted  style  of  its  era.  In  its  w^ay  it  is,  al- 
though quite  different,  the  rival  of  St.  Ouen's 
"  Crown  of  Normandy  "  at  Rouen. 

There  are  453  steps  to  be  mounted  if  one 
cares  to  ascend  to  the  platform,  103  metres 
from  the  ground.  One  gets  the  usual  bird's- 
eye  view,  with  this  difiference,  that  the  glance 
of  the  eye  seems  to  reach  out  into  an  inter- 
minable distance,  by  reason  of  the  general 
flatness  of  the  country.  One  sees,  at  any  rate, 
quite  all  of  the  provinces  of  South  Holland, 
with  the  Zuyder  Zee  to  the  north,  and  a  part 
of  Guelderland  and  North  Brabant.  The 
tower  possesses  also  a  fine  set  of  chimes  of 
forty-two  bells  which  is  reminiscent  of  Bel- 
gium; but,  unlike  those  in  the  famous  old 
belfry  at  Bruges,  the  chimes  on  the  Domkerk 
at  Utrecht  do  not  ring  out  popular  marches 
or  the  airs  of  popular  songs. 

The  interior  is  so  crowded  with  benches, 
340 


1(1 ;  r^ 

'1\ 

,  ■<  »"i^  ,;■   'f' 

.  ?  1 ,; 


UTKECNT 


UTRECHT 
nnd  Its 
CATHEDRAL 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

similar  to  what  English  churchgoing  people 
know  as  pews,  that  its  original  aspect  is  some- 
what changed.  Eighteen  great  pillars  hold 
aloft  the  vaulting  of  the  choir  and  transepts. 

A  notable  tomb  in  black  and  white  marble 
is  that  of  Admiral  van  Gent  (1676),  and  an- 
other is  that  of  Bishop  Georges  d'Egmont 
(1549) .  In  the  vault  beneath  the  edifice  were 
buried  the  viscera  of  Conrad  II.  and 
Henry  V.,  who  died  at  Utrecht,  and  whose 
remains,  with  this  exception,  were  transported 
to  Speyer. 

A  fine  Gothic  cloister  connects  the  cathedral 
with  the  university.  This  has,  in  recent  years, 
undergone  restoration  of  a  most  practical  and 
devoted  kind.  It  is  a  marvel  of  modern  archi- 
tectural work. 

St.  Peter's  is  another  ancient  Roman  Catho- 
lic church  now  devoted  to  Protestant  uses. 

St.  John's  also  comes  under  this  category. 
It  is  a  fine  example  of  a  small  Gothic  church 
of  the  variety  which  was  best  known  only  in 
Holland  and  Belgium;  much  more  severe 
than  the  French  species,  but  interesting  withal. 

Within  the  walls  of  this  last  are  two  tombs 
quite  worthy  of  attention  and  remark.  The 
one  against  the  western  wall  is  that  of  a  cardi- 
nal who  died  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the 

341 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

other  is  that  of  Balthazar  Frederick  of  Stoech. 
The  latter,  though  dating  only  from  the  eight- 
eenth century,  is  charmingly  sculptured,  and 
has  two  superb  figures  of  weeping  children 
done  in  marble. 

The  Roman  Catholic  church  of  St.  Cath- 
erine is  a  Gothic  edifice  of  the  third  ogival 
period,  and  was  restored  in  1880  at  the  expense 
of  a  devout  Catholic  of  the  city,  named  Van 
den  Brink. 

The  walls  are  decorated  in  a  polychromatic 
scheme,  which  is  not  beautiful,  though  unde- 
niably striking.  The  jube,  by  Mengelberg  of 
Utrecht,  is  distinctly  good. 

Utrecht  possesses  in  the  Aartsbisschoppelyk 
Museum  an  establishment  unique  among  the 
museums  of  the  world.  Particularly  it  shows 
all  branches  of  religious  art,  and  is  of  great 
importance  to  all  who  study  the  art  and  archi- 
tecture of  the  Netherlands. 

Of  the  secular  establishments  one  remarks 
the  university  which  adjoins  the  cathedral. 
It  dates  from  1636,  and  has  to-day  five  fac- 
ulties. 

In  the  palace,  constructed  for  Louis  Bona- 
parte during  the  Napoleonic  overflow,  is  a 
magnificent  library  of  110,000  volumes  and 
1,500  MSS. 

342 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

The  ancient  academy,  the  archepiscopal 
palace,  the  Palais  de  Justice,  the  Stadt  Huis, 
the  Paushuizen  (Prefecture),  the  mint,  with 
a  rich  numismatic  collection,  and  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Arts  and  Sciences  complete  the  list 
of  the  city's  notable  monuments. 

heyden 

With  Leyden  the  Rhine  may  be  said  to  take 
its  leave  of  ancient  civilization,  though  it  only 
joins  the  briny  waters  of  the  North  Sea  at 
Katwyck,  a  dozen  kilometres  distant,  after 
having  formed  a  natural  frontier  for  nearly 
eleven  hundred  kilometres,  from  its  Alpine 
cradle  in  the  canton  of  Grisons. 

Anciently  Leyden  was  the  Lugdunum  Bata- 
vorum  of  the  Romans,  and,  according  to  the 
old-time  historians,  was  the  most  ancient  city 
of  Holland.  Later  its  name  became  Leithen, 
from  which  its  present  nomenclature  is 
evolved. 

Its  great  importance  came  with  the  thir- 
teenth century  and  endured  until  the  Spanish 
wars. 

The  city  was  besieged  by  the  Spaniards  in 
1574,  and  delivered  therefrom  by  the  Prince 
of  Orange  in  the  year  following. 

343 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

To-day  the  plan  of  Leyden  forms  a  regular 
pentagon,  with  long  streets  and  boulevards, 
all  characteristically  Dutch,  with  old-time 
and  modern  houses  alike  built  with  queer 
gabled  roofs,  giving  quite  a  mediaeval  aspect 
to  an  otherwise  lively  and  up-to-date  little 
city. 

The  city  is  traversed  from  east  to  west  by 
the  Oud  Rijn,  which  throws  out  many  arms 
and  branches  and  gives  to  the  place  a  most 
Venetian  appearance. 

One  distinctive  feature  of  the  topographical 
aspect  of  Leyden,  and  one  which  is  universal 
in  most  of  the  cities  of  Holland,  are  the  canals 
which  cross  and  recross  the  principal  streets. 
All  is  plus  propres,  as  the  French  have  it,  and 
the  tree-bordered,  cobblestoned  quays  are  not 
the  least  of  the  town's  attractions  for  the 
stranger. 

Unquestionably  the  chief  architectural 
treasure  of  Leyden  is  the  Stadt  Huis.  It  is  of 
the  style  which  may  best  be  called  Dutch,  and 
is  a  reconstruction  of  1597. 

In  front  of  the  Stadt  Huis  are  a  pair  of 
gaudily  coloured  stone  lions,  which  have 
looked  down  for  a  matter  of  three  hundred 
years  on  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  some  of  whom 
had  gathered  and  settled  here  previous  to  go- 

344 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ing  to  the  New  World,  on  Oliver  Goldsmith, 
on  Boswell,  on  Evelyn,  and  on  many  other 
Englishmen  who  attended  the  famous  uni- 
versity here. 

One  learns  that  these  lions  were  once  prop- 
erly coloured  beasts,  —  at  least  of  the  conven- 
tional tone  of  stone  sculptured  animals,  and 
that  they  were  only  recently  painted  a  gaudy 
vermilion,  which  apparently  is  not  a  very 
durable  colour,  as  in  these  days  they  seem  to 
shed  and  don  their  coats  with  surprising  fre- 
quency. 

The  chief  ecclesiastical  monuments  of  Ley- 
den  are  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  of  the  thir- 
teenth to  sixteenth  century,  a  vast  Latin  cross 
of  not  very  good  Gothic;  and  St.  Pancras, 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  built,  curiously 
enough,  on  the  ground-plan  of  a  St.  Andrew's 
cross. 

St.  Peter's  was  built  in  1221,  but  in  1512 
its  great  tower  fell  and  was  replaced  by  the 
present  one,  which  rises  high  above  the  rest 
of  the  fabric. 

In  truth,  there  is  not  much  of  interest  to 
be  derived  from  a  contemplation  of  the  church 
except  the  memory  of  the  great  names  of  those 
interred  therein,  which  form  a  veritable  cate- 
gory of  those  who  became  famous  in  matters 

345 


Cathedrals  and  Churches  of  the  Rhine 

ecclesiastic,  artistic,  and  scientific,  in  Hol- 
land's roll  of  fame. 

Near  St.  Peter's  is  a  thirteenth-century  edi- 
fice now  used  as  a  prison.  In  olden  times  it 
served  as  the  residence  of  the  Counts  of  Hol- 
land, the  name  "  Gravenstein  "  on  the  ancient 
structure  signifying  "  the  house  of  the  count." 

The  church  of  St.  Pancras  is  an  ogival  edi- 
fice built  in  1280.  It  has  no  remarkably  artis- 
tic attributes,  and  its  chief  interest  consists  in 
the  fact  that  it  contains  the  tomb  of  Van  der 
Werf,  the  courageous  burgomaster,  who,  in 
1574,  so  heroically  defended  the  city.  He  was 
born  at  Leyden  in  1529  and  died  in  1604. 

Leyden  may  be  called  the  learned  city  of 
Holland.  In  recognition  of  having  withstood 
a  siege  by  the  Spaniards  of  131  days,  the  city 
was  given  the  choice  between  exemption  from 
taxation  or  the  foundation  of  a  university,  and 
chose  the  latter. 

The  city  is  the  birthplace  of  many  men 
famous  in  Dutch  art,  among  them  Lucas  de 
Leyde,  Rembrandt,  Gerard  Dow,  G.  Metsu, 
J.  van  Goyen. 

Here  also  was  born  the  celebrated  anabap- 
tist known  as  John  of  Leyden. 

THE   END. 

346 


Appendix 

Chronological  Tables  and  Diagrams 
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE 


Round  Chinch  in  the  IXth 
Century,  Aix-la-Chapelle 

Charlemagne  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  814 

Charlemagne's  original  chapel  founded,  Vlllth  century 

Damaged  by  fire,  1146,  1234,  1236,  1656 

Choir  begun,  1353 

Choir  completed,  XlVth  century 

Minorite  church,  XlVth  to  XVth  century 

347 


Appendix 
ANDERNACH 


Foundation  of  primitive  church,  Xth  century 
St.  Genevieve,  Xlllth  century 
Coloured  bas-relief  oi  portal,  XVIth  century 
Lahnstein  tomb,  1541 

ARNHEIM 

City  gave  adherence  to  "  Union  of  Utrecht,"  1579 

Taken  by  the  French,  1672 

Taken  by  the  Prussians,  1813 

Groote  Kerk  founded,  1452 

Main  portions  of  Groote  Kevk,  XlVth  and  XVth  centuries 

St.  Walburge,  XlVth  century 

Monument  of  Duke  of  Guelderland,  XVIth  century 

Maison  du  Diable  (restored  1830),  XVIth  century 


BACHARACH    AND    BINGEN 

Protestant  temple,  Bacharach,  Xllth  century 

Chateau    of    Archbishops    of    Mayence   at    Asmanhausen,    Xlllth 

century 
"Mouse  Tower,"  Xlllth  century 


Appendix 
BASEL 

Councils  of  the  Church  held  here,  1061  and  1431 

Cathedral  founded  by  Henry  II.,  loio 

Cathedral  dedicated,  1019 

Bridge  crossing  the  Rhine,  1220 

Council-chamber,  1431-44 

Baptismal  font,  1465 

North  tower  (66  metres),  1500 

University  founded  by  bull  of  Pius  II.,  XVIth  century 


BONN 


C 


D 


Primitive  church  founded  by  the  mother  of  Constantine,  319 

Present  cathedral  choir  and  crypt,  11 57 

Main  fabric,  Xllth  and  Xlllth  centuries 

The  Electors  of  Cologne  came  to  reside  at  Bonn,  1268 


BOPPART 

Hauptkirche  built,  1200  (?) 
Carmeliterkirche  built.  XVIth  century 
Boppart  made  a  ville  imperiale,  XlVth  century 

CLEVES 

Sacked  by  the  Normans,  IXth  century 

349 


Appendix 


COBLENZ 


r^ 


r 


V_r 


St.  Castor  founded  by  Louis  the  Pious,  836 
Lower  ranges  of  towers,  Xlth  century 
Reconciliation  of  Henry  IV.  with  his  sons,  1105 
St.  Bernard  preached  Crusades  here,  Xllth  century 
Bridge  crossing  the  Moselle,  1344 


COLMAR 

St.  Martin's  foundations,  Xlllth  century 
St  Martin's  choir,  131 5 
Virgin  of  the  Roses,  XVth  century 
Dominican  Convent  of  Unterlinden,  1232 


350 


Appendix 
COLOGNE 


Ancient  Cathedral 


Romanesque  cathedral  destroyed  by  fire,  1 248 

Foundation-stone  of  new  cathedral  laid,  1248 

Charter  mentioning  St.  Trond,  1257 

Choir  consecrated.  1322 

Work  stagnated.  XVth  and  XVIth  centuries 

Work  again  undertaken,  XVIIth  century 

Renaissance  details  added  to  choir,  XVII Ith  century 


Present  Cathedral 


Napoleon  transferred  archbishopric  to  Aix,  XlXth  century 
See  reestablished  at  Cologne,  1821 
Restoration  begun  and  choir  reopened,  1842 


Appendix 
COLOGNE   [Continued) 

Reliques  of  the  "  Three  Kings  "  first  brought  from  Milan,  1 164 

Tapestries  in  choir,  XVth  century 

Glass  in  Chapel  of  the  Three  Kings,  XVth  century 

Organ-case,  i  572 

Candelabra  of  choir,  1770 

Nave  consecrated,  1848 

Wall  between  nave  and  choir  broken  out,  1863 

Spires  of  towers  added,  1870 

Spires  completed,  1880 

Petrarch  visited  Cologne,  1331 

Marie  de  Medici  died  at  Cologne,  1642 


L, 


St.  Maria  in  Capitolia 


St.  Citniberfs 


St.  Maria  in  Capitolia  (nave),  Xlth  century 

St.  Maria  in  Capitolia  (apses),  Xllth  century 

St.  Pantaleon,  980 

Apostles'  Church,  Xlth  century 

St.  Gereon's  (primitive  church),  Vth  century 

Jews  driven  from  Cologne,  1425 

Protestants  driven  from  Cologne,  1618 

Abbey  of  Altenburg  (glass),  1270-1300 

Abbey  of  Altenburg  (choir),  1255 


Appendix 


St.  Martin's 


Church  of  the  Apostles 


St.  Gdreoti's  Crypt,  St.  Gereon's 

353 


Appendix 
CONSTANCE 


City  founded  by  Emperor  Constance,  297 

Ville  imperiale,  Xth  century 

Peace  between  Barbarossa  and  Lombardy,  1183 

Cathedral  founded,  Xlth  century 

Bishop  Salomon  occupied  the  see,  891-919 

St.  Stephen's  enlarged  by  Bishop  Salomon,  900 

Further  embellished  by  Bishop  Conrad  of  Altdorf,  935 

Renovated  by  Bishop  Theodoric,  1047-51 

Council-chamber  built,  1388 

Roof  of  nave  and  aisles  (in  wood),  1600 

Council  concerning  the  three  popes,  141 4-18 

Council  condemning  John  Huss,  1414 

John  Huss  burned  alive,  141 5 

Reconstructed  by  Bishop  Otto  III.,  1428 

Consecrated  to  the  Lutherites,  1522-48 

Organ  and  case  (restored  1819  and  1839),  1583 

Catholicism  reestablished  at  Constance,  1550 

DORTMUND 

St.  Mary's,  Xllth  century 

St.  Reinhold's  nave  and  transepts,  Xlllth  century 
St.  Reinhold's  choir,  XVth  century 
Pfarrkirche,  XlVth  century 

354 


Appendix 
EMMERICH 

St.  Martin's,  Xth  century 

ESSEN 

Romanesque  details  of  cathedral,  874 

Crypt,  transept,  and  choir  foundation,  Xlth  century 

Seven-branched  candlestick,  1003 

Gothic  additions,  XlVth  century 


FRANKFORT 

First  historical  mention,  794 

Juden  Gasse,  1662 

Cathedral  completed,  XlVth  cen- 
tury 

Tomb  of  Emperor  Gunther  of  Schwarz- 
burg,  1349 

Tomb   of    Knight    of    Sachsenhausen, 

137 1 
Late  Gothic  western  tower  (163  feet), 

1415-1509 
Tomb  of  Consul  Hirde,  1518 
St.  Leonard's,  Xlllth  century 
St.  Catherine's,  XVIIth  century 
St.  Paul's,  1833 


FREIBURG 

City  founded  by  Berthold  IIL,  11 18 
Cathedral  founded  by  the  same,  1122 
Nave  and  restored  choir,  Xlllth  cen- 
tury 
Cathedral  finally  completed,  1513 
Benedictine    Convent  of  Taennenbach, 

Xllth  century 
Cloister  of  parish  church,  XlVth  cen- 
tury 


IT 

Cathedral,  Freiburg 


355 


Appendix 


GODESBERG 

Given  to  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  1210 
Chapel  of  St.  Michal,  Xlllth  century 
Ch3.teau  of  archbishops  pillaged,  1593 


HEIDELBERG 


Conrad   of    Hohenstaufen,    first    Count   Palatinate,  1148 
Heidelberg  made  capital  of  the   Palatinate,  1228 

St.  Esprit's,  XlVth  to  XVth  century 
House  of  the  Chevalier  zum  Ritter,  1492 
University  of  Heidelberg  founded,  1386 
Luther  at  the  University,  151  5 
Heidelberg  invaded  by  Tilly,  1622 
Library  of  University  given  to  Pope  Leo 

Xlth,  1622 
St.  Peter's  sacked  by  Melac,  1693 
Library  of  the  Palatine  sent  from  Rome 

to  Paris,  1795 
Library  returned  to  Heidelberg,  181 5 
Castle  built  by  the   Elector,   Robert  L, 

XlVth  century 
Additions  by  Otto  Henry,  1556-59 
Later  additions  by  Frederick  IV.,  XVIth 

century 
Castle  ravaged  by  Spaniards,  1622 
Again  rebuilt  and  dismembered  by  light- 
ning, 1764 
Great  tuns,  1535,  1728,  1751 


jJV 


c 


Abbey  of  Laach 


LAACH 

Abbey  founded  by  Henry  II.,  1093 
Pillaged  by  revolutionists,  XVIIIth  cen- 
tury 


356 


Appendix 
LEYDEN 

St.  Pancras,  1280 

St.  Peter's,  Xlllth  to  XVIth  century 

St.  Peter's  tower  fell,  1512 

Old  Palace  of  Counts  of  Holland  (1280),  Xlllth  century 

Tomb  of  Van  der  Werf  in  St.  Pancras,  XVIth  century 

City  besieged  by  Spaniards,  1574 

Stadt  Huis,  1597 

LIEGE 

St.  Jean,  Xth  century 

St.  Jean,  choir  added,  Xlllth  century 

St.  Jean,  tower  added,  Xlllth  century 

St.  Jean,  cloister,  XlVth  century 

St.  Martin  founded,  962 

Bishopric  founded  by  Heraclius,  968 

Ste.  Croix  founded  by  Bishop  Notger,  979 

Ste.  Croix,  choir  added,  1175 

Ste.  Croix,  Stations  of  the  Cross,  XVth  century 

St.  Jacques's  founded  by  Bishop  Baudry  II.,  ior4 

St.  Jacques's  Romanesque  tower,  Xllth  century 

St.  Jacques's  rebuilt,  1513-38 

St.  Jacques's  organ  buffet,  1673 

St.  Barthelemy's  font,  11 12 

Fete  Dieu  ordained  by  Urbain  IV.,  1246 

St.  Lambert's  destroyed,  1801 

LIMBURG 

Primitive  church,  909 
Cathedral  of  St.  George,  Xllth  century 
Baptismal  fonts,  Xllth  century 
Baldaquin  of  Pyx,  XVth  century 
Tomb  of  Daniel  of  Mutersbach,  1475 

MANNHEIM 

City  founded,  765 

Elector  Frederick  built  his  chateau,  XVIIth  century 

City  walls  built,  1606 

MAYENCE 

Bishops  of  the  Frankish  kingdom  convoked  by  Dagobert,  636 

Bishop  Sigibert  built  the  city  walls,  718 

Council  met  here  on  order  of  Charlemagne,  813 

Archbishop  Willigis  built  the  cathedral  and  St.  Stephen's,  975-101 1 

357 


Appendix 


Cathedral  completed  under  Archbishop  Bardon,  1037 

Pope  Leo  IX.  held  a  council  here,  1049 

Cathedral  burned,  1087 

Philip  of  Suabia  crowned  here,  1198 

Transept  and  western  choir  rebuilt,  Xllth  century 

Chapter-house,  Xllth  century 


cr~n~D 


L 


rf\ 


xr 


Cathedral,  Mayence  Gothard  Chapel,  Mayence 


Cathedral  newly  consecrated,  1239 

Cloisters,  Xlllth  century 

Chapels,  Xlllth  and  XlVth  centuries 

Western  end  of  roof  took  fire,  1793 

Napoleon  ordered  it  restored,  1803 

Remains  of  Frastrada  (d.  794)  removed  thither,  1552 

Fountain  in  Speise-Markt,  XVIth  century 


METZ 


c 

Origi 


ity  attacked  by  the  Huns,  Vth  century 

•riginal  foundation  of  Eglise  St.  Pierre,  Vllth  century 
Reconstructed,  Xth  and  XVth  centuries 
St.  Stephen's  (cathedral),  Xlllth  century 
Glass  of  clerestory  of  St.  Stephen's,  XVIth  century 
St.  Martin's,  Xlllth  century 
St.  Vincent's,  Xlllth  century 
Montmorenci  captured  the  city,  1552 
Abbey  of  St.  Arnulphe  destroyed,  XVIth  century 
Citadel  built,  1556-62 

358, 


Appendix 
MtJNCHEN  -  GLADBACH 


Abbey  church,  Xlllth  century 
Stadt  Kirche,iXIVth  century 


NEUSS 

City  ravaged  by  Attila,  451 
Chapter  of  Nobles  founded,  825 
By  the  Normans,  IXth  century 
Primitive  church  founded,  IXth  century 
Collegiate  church  destroyed,  1199 
Under    patronage     of    Archbishop    of 

Cologne,  1206 
St.  Quirinus  founded,  1209 
Choir-stalls,  St.   Quirinus,   XlVth  cen- 
tury 
Cupola  frescoes,  St.  Quirinus,   XlXth 
century 


359 


Appendix 
SCHAFFHAUSEN 

Abbey  founded  by  Count  Nellenburg,  1052 

Cathedral,  Xllth  century 

Convent  of  St.  Hilaire  at  Sackingen,  Vlth  century 


Schaffhausen 


Speyer 


SPEYER 

Foundation  of  cathedral  laid,  1030 

Practically  completed,  1060 

Destroyed  by  fire,  11 59 

Rebuilt,  1 170 

Other  fires,  1189-1450 

Cloister  built,  1437 

Burned  in  the  religious  wars,  XVIth  century 

Restored,  XVIIIth  century 

Nave  restored  by  Bishop  August,  1772 

Later  restorations,  1823 

360 


Appendix 
STOLZENFELS 

Castle  founded  by  Arnold  of  Treves,  Xlllth  century 
Nearly  destroyed  by  the  French,  1688 
Given  to  the  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia,  1825 


STRASBURG 

Primitive  church  founded  by  Clovis,  504 

Destroyed  by  fire,  873 

Pillaged  and  fired  anew  by  Duke  Hermann,  1002 

Present  cathedral  begun,  1277 

Great  portal  begun  by  Ervin  von  Steinbach,  1277 

Ervin  von  Steinbach  died,  1318 

First  Strasburg  clock,  1352 

Second  Strasburg  clock,  1571-74 

Second  Strasburg  clock  restored,  1669  and  1732 

Second    Strasburg    clock    ceased    its 

functions,  1790 
Present   Strasburg  clock  inaugurated, 


Choir,  St.  Bartholomew's,  1308-45 
"  Danse    des    Morts   "  (St.   Bartholo- 
mew's), XVth  century 
Maison  de  I'Oeuvre  Notre  Dame,  1581 
Episcopal  palace  built  by  Cardinal  de 

Rohan,  f74i 
Height  of  spire  of   cathedrals  :  Stras- 
burg,   440   feet;  Cologne,   482  feet; 
Rouen,  458  feet ;   Paris,  200  feet 


TREVES 

Primitive  church  founded,  327 

See  became  an   archbishopric,  Xllth 

century 
Archbishops     removed     to     Coblenz, 

XlVth  century 
Holy    robe    of    Treves    brought   from  1 

Holy  Land,  IVth  century 
Tomb  of  Cardinal  Ivo,  Xllth  century 
Notre  Dame  built,  1227-43 


Treves 


361 


Appendix 


UTRECHT 

Primitive  church  founded  by  Dagobert,  630 

City  devastated,  Vllth  century 

City  rebuilt  by  Clothaire  IV^,  718 

Enlarged  by  Bishop  Baldric  of  Cleves,  934 

Adrian  Florizoon  of  Utrecht  became  Pope  Adrien  VI.,  1522 

See  made  an  archbishopric,  1559 

Religious  reform  advocated  by  Prince  of  Orange,  1577 

States  General  sat  at  Utrecht,  1579 

Cathedral  of  St.  Martin  rebuilt  from  primitive  church,  1024 

Cathedral  of  St.  Martin  again  rebuilt,  1257 

Tower,  1331-82 

Nave  damaged,  1674 


WORMS 

Concordat   between  Pope   Calixtus    II. 

and  Henry  V.,  1122 
Diet    of    Worms     declared     Luther    a 

heretic,  132 1 
Cathedral  begun  by  Bishop   Bouchard, 

996 
Later    additions    and    rebuilding    since, 

1185 
City  besieged  but  cathedral   unharmed, 

1689 
St.  Martin,  Xllth  century 
Notre  Dame,  Xlllth  to  XlVth  century 
Synagogue,  Xlth  century 
Jewish  colony  at  Worms,  550  B.C. 
Abbey  of  Lorsch  founded,  767-774 
Primitive    church    founded    at    Lorsch, 

285 
Lorsch  incorporated  with  Archbishopric 

of  Mayence,  1232 
Abbey  rebuilt,  1100 


St.  Alaj'tin,  I  Forms 


XANTEN 


Captured  by  the  French,  1672 

Collegiate  church  of  St.  Victor,  Xllth  century 

Chancel  screen,  1501 

Monument  to  Cornelius  de  Pauw,  XVIIIth  century 

362 


INDEX 


Abbey  of  Altenburg,   42,  64, 

275-276. 
Abbey  of  Laach,  63,   I93-I94. 

355- 
Abbey  of  Lorsch,   1 53-154- 
Abbey  of  Pfeffers,  Ragatz,  21. 
Abbey  of  St.  Arnulphe,  Metz, 

117. 
Academy    of    Painting,    Diis- 

seldorf,  307. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,   32,   38,   277- 

294. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Cathedral  of, 

43,  44,   50,   56,  62,  65,  289- 

293,   347- 
Aix-la-Chapelle,     Church     of 

St.  Adelbert,  293. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,        Minoriten 

Kirche,  293. 
Altenburg,  Abbey  of,  42,  64, 

275-276. 
Amiens,    Cathedral    of,   v.,  4, 

256,  262. 
Andernach,  9,    14,    199-204. 
Andernach,     Church     of     St. 

Genevieve,  201-204,  348. 
A;-chbishop  Bardon,  164. 
Arnheini,  8,  25,  2>3^-2,?,(^- 
Arnheim,   Groote    Kerk,    t,^^,- 

334, .  348. 
Arnheim,  Church  of  St.  Wal- 

burge,  334-335- 
Arnheim,   Maison  du   Diable, 

336. 
Attila,  15,  98,  149. 


Bacharach,    172-174. 
Bacharach,     Church     of     St. 
Werner,  172. 


Bacharach,    Protestant    Tem- 
pi t^,  ^72,,  348. 
Bacharach,     Church     of     St 

Peter,   59,   173. 
Barbarossa,    15,    38,    69,    245, 

283. 
Basel,   9,    15,    16,    17,   22,   83- 

90. 
Basel,   University  of,  82. 
Basel,     Cathedral     of,    86-80, 

348. 
Basel,    the    Pfalz,  89. 
Basel,  Museum  at,  90. 
Bingen,  17,  177. 
Bingen,  "  Mouse  Tower,"  177, 

179,  348. 
Bishop     Alfred     of     Hildes- 

heim,   319,   322. 
Bishop    August    of    Limburg, 

.131- 
Bishop    Baudry   II.,   299,   301. 
Bishop  Hatto,   177. 
Bishop   Otto   III.,   74,   75. 
Bishop   Reinhold,   130-131. 
Bishop  Salomon   III.,  74. 
Bishop    Siegfried,    128. 
Bishop   Theodoric,   74. 
Blonde],  24,  25. 
Bonn,  9,   17,  220-225. 
Bonn,   Cathedral   of,   59,    150, 

220-223,   349- 
Boppart,  191-193. 
15oppart,     Hauptkirche,     191- 

192,  340. 
Boi)parl,  Convent  of  Marien- 

burg.   192. 
Boppart,     Carmelite     Church, 

192. 
Boppart,  Templehof,  192. 


2>^2> 


Index 


Bridge  at  Coblenz,  190. 
Bromser,  Hans,  179-180. 
Bninhilda,    149,    151. 


Caesar,  13,  14,  15. 
Carlsruhe,  134,  136. 
Carlsruhe,   Churches   of,    135. 
Carmelite     Church,     Boppart, 

192. 
Castle  of  Heidelberg,  3,   142, 

144-145- 
Cathedral     of     Charlemagne, 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  43,  44,  50, 

56,  63,  65,  289-293,  347. 
Cathedral    of    Amiens,    v.,   4, 

256-262. 
Cathedral     of     Basel,     86-89, 

349- 
Cathedral    of   Bonn,    59,    150, 

220-223,  349. 
Cathedral   of    Cologne,   v.,   3, 

4,  9,  43,  46,  64,  232-263,  351. 
Cathedral    of    Constance,    69, 

74.  354- 
Cathedral    of    Essen,    63,    65, 

319-322,  355. 
Cathedral   of  Frankfort,   156- 

158,   355- 
Cathedral  of  Freiburg,  93-95, 

355- 
Cathedral     of     St.     Lambert, 

Liege,  298,  357. 
Cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  Liege, 

299,  357- 
Cathedral  of  Limburg,  3,  67, 

182-186,  357. 
Cathedral  of  Lincoln,  v. 
Cathedral  of  Mayence,  48,  49, 

54,    60,    64,    150,    162,    164- 

170,   357- 
Cathedral     of     St.     Stephen, 

Metz,  v.,   114,   120-124,  358. 
Cathedral    at    Paderborn,    61. 
Cathedral  of  Paris,  v.,  3. 
Cathedral  of  Reims,  v.,  4. 
Cathedral    of    Rouen,    4. 
Cathedral     of     Schaffhausen, 

81,  360. 


Cathedral    of    Speyer,    4,    31, 

57,  60,  128-133,  360. 
Cathedral    of    Strasburg,    v., 

47,  64,  97,  99-109,  361. 
Cathedral   of  Tournai,  3,  43. 
Cathedral  of  Treves,  56,  208, 

214-217,  361. 
Cathedral      of      St.      Martin, 

Utrecht,   339-341,  362. 
Cathedral  of  Worms,  60,  150- 

151,  362. 
Cathedral  of  York,  v. 
Catholic     Church     of     Wies- 
baden, 139-141. 
Chapel    of   the   Three   Kings, 

Cologne      Cathedral,      258- 

261. 
Charlemagne,    13,    14,    15,   30, 

33,  n,  50,  99,  149,  153,  155, 

178,  246,  247,  277-283,  289, 

293,  294. 
Charles  V.,  149,  199. 
Chateau  of  Mannheim,  147. 
Churches   of  Carlsruhe,    135. 
Church    of    Cleves,    327,    349. 
Churches  of  Darmstadt,   137- 

138. 
Church  of  Deventer,  39. 
Church    of    Mannheim,    148, 

357. 
Church      of      Notre      Dame, 

Treves,    214,    217-218,    361. 
Church      of      Notre      Dame, 

Worms,   151. 
Church  of  Rudesheim,  178. 
Church      of      the      Apostles, 

Cologne,    267. 
Church    of    the    Jesuits,    Co- 
logne, 274. 
Church   of  the  Jesuits,   Diis- 

seldorf,  306. 
Church       of       the       Jesuits, 

Treves,  218. 
Church  of  St.  Adelbert,  Aix- 

la-Chapelle,   293. 
Church      of      St.      Andrew, 

Cologne,   267,   268. 
Church      of      St.       Antoine, 

Treves,  218. 


364 


V 


Index 


Church    of    St.    Barthelemy, 

Liege,  302-303,  357. 
Church  of   St.    Bartholomew, 

Strasburg,  no. 
Church      of      St.      Castor, 

Coblenz,    38,     59,     189-190, 

350. 
Church     of     St.      Catherine, 

Frankfort,   159,  355. 
Church  of  St.  Clement,  Metz, 

125-126. 
Church  of  Ste.  Croix,  Liege, 

301-302,  357. 
Church  of  St.  Esprit,  Heidel- 
berg,  144,  356. 
Church     of     St.     Eucharius, 

Metz,  125. 
Church     of     St.     Gangolphe, 

Treves,  218. 
Church     of     St.     Genevieve, 

Andernach,  201-204,  348. 
Church    of    St.    Gereon,    Co- 
logne, 44,  57,  63,  217,  271- 

274,  352. 
Church      of       St.       Gervais, 

Treves,  218. 
Church    of    St.    Jean,    Liege, 

301,  357- 
Church  of  St.  John,  Nieder- 

lahnstein,   191. 
Church  of   St.   John,   Schaff- 

hausen,  81,  360. 
Church  of  St.  John,  Utrecht, 

341-342,  362. 
Church      of      St.      Leonard, 

Frankfort,  159,  355. 
Church  of  St.  Maria  in  Capi- 

tola,    Cologne,  60,   63,   266, 

268,  352. 
Church  of  St.  Martin,  Coire, 

20-21. 
Church    of    St.    Martin,    Col- 
mar,  91-92,   350. 
Church       of       St.       Martin, 

Cologne,  59,  60,  268. 
Church    of    St.    Martin,    Em- 
merich, 326,  355. 
Church  of  St.  Martin,  Liege, 

301,  357- 


Church  of  St.  Martin,  Metz, 
124,  358.  . 

Church  of  St.  Martin, 
Worms,  151,  362. 

Church  of  St.  iMary,  Dort- 
mund, 324,  354. 

Church  of  St.  Maximin, 
Metz,  124. 

Church  of  St.  Nicholas, 
Frankfort,    158. 

Church  of  St.  Pancras,  Ley- 
den,  345,  346,  457. 

Church  of  St.  Pantheon, 
Cologne,  266. 

Church  of  St.  Paul,  Frank- 
fort, 159,  355. 

Church  of  St.  Paul,  Treves, 
218. 

Church  of  St.  Peter,  Bach- 
arach,  59,  173,  348. 

Church  of  St.  Peter,  Cologne, 
264. 

Church  of  St  Peter,  Heidel- 
berg,   143. 

Church  of  St.  Peter,  Leyden, 
345,   346,   337. 

Church  of  St.  Pierre,  Metz, 
118. 

Church  of  St.  Quirinus, 
Neuss,  6,  38,  56,  59,  60,  204, 

308-313,  359- 

Church  of  St.  Reinhold, 
Dortmund,    Z22-Z2J,,    354. 

Church  of  St.  Sagelone, 
Metz,  125. 

Church  of  St.  Stephen,  Con- 
stance,   74-77,    354. 

Church  of  St.  Thomas,  Stras- 
burg,  III. 

Church  of  St.  Victor,  Xantcn, 
328-330,  362. 

Church  of  St.  Vincent,  Metz, 
124.  358. 

Church  of  St.  Walburge, 
.\rnheim,    334-335-    348. 

Church  of  St.  Werner,  Bach- 
arach,  172. 

Cleves,  326.  327. 

Cleves,  Church  of,  327,  349. 


365 


Index 


Clock  of  Strasburg,  105-108, 
361. 

Clevis,  15,  99,  149. 

Coblenz,  9,  14,  187-191. 

Coblenz,  Church  of  St.  Cas- 
tor, 38,   59,   189-190,  350. 

Coblenz,  Bridge  at,  190. 

Coire,  20. 

Coire,  Church  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, 20-21. 

Colmar,  90,  92. 

Colmar,  Church  of  St.  Mar- 
tin,   91-92,    350. 

Colmar,  Unterlinden,  92. 

Cologne,  vii.,  3,  6,  9,  11- 12,  13, 
15,  25,  32,  2>z,  34,  232-276. 

Cologne,  Cathedral  of,  v.,  3. 
4,  9,  43,  46,  64,  232-263,  351. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  Peter, 
264. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  An- 
drew, 3,  267,  268. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  Ge- 
reon,  44,   57,  63,  217,   271- 

274,    352. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, 59,  60,  268. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  Maria 
in  Capitola,  iii.,  60,  63,  266, 
268,  352. 

Cologne,  Church  of  St.  Pan- 
taleon,   266,  352. 

Cologne,  Church  of  the  Apos- 
tles, 267. 

Cologne,  Church  of  the 
Jesuits,  274. 

Comacine  Masters,  2)7- 

Conrad  11.,  127. 

Conrad  III.,  133. 

Constance,   vii.,    15,   68-78. 

Constance,  Cathedral  of,  69- 
74,  354- 

Constance,  Church  of  St. 
Stephen,  74,  77,  354. 

Constance,  Council  of,  "]"]. 

Constance,  Lake  of,  17,  18, 
22,  -j-j,  78. 

Convent  of  Marienburg,  Bop- 
part,   192. 


Cornelius  of  Diisseldorf,  313. 
Council  of  Constance,  TJ. 

Dagobert    I.,    127,    149,    337, 

338. 
Darmstadt,    136-138. 
Darmstadt,  Churches  of,  137- 

138. 
Dasypodius,    Conrad,    108. 
D'Egmont,  Charles,  ZZZ,  334- 
De   Pauw,   Cornelius,  330. 
Deventer,  Church  of,  39. 
Diet  of  Worms,  149. 
Disentis,  Abbey  of,  19. 
Dortmund,   322-325. 
Dortmund,     Church     of     St. 

Reinhold,  ■^2.2-12?,,  354. 
Dortmund,     Church     of     St. 

Mary,   324,  354. 
Dortmund,  Pfarr  Kirche,  324- 

325- 

Dow,  Gerard,  346. 

Drachenfels,  225. 

Drusus,  162,   199,  220. 

Dunwege,  Heinrich  and  Vic- 
tor, 325. 

Diisseldorf,  6,  9,  15,  17,  25, 
304-307. 

Diisseldorf,  Academy  of 
Painting,   307. 

Diisseldorf,  Church  of  the 
Jesuits,  306. 

Diisseldorf,  the  Hofkirche, 
305-306. 

6glise     St.     Jacques,     Liege, 

299-301. 
Ehrenfels,    174. 
Emmerich,  326. 
Emmerich,     Church     of     St. 

Martin,  326,  355- 
Emperor   Sigismund,  76,  yT. 
Empress  Helene,  208,  212. 
Episcopal    Palace,    Strasburg, 

112. 
Erasmus.  84,  89. 
Essen.  318,  ^22. 
Essen,    Cathedral    of,   63,   65, 

319-322,  355. 


366 


Index 


Falls  of  Schaflfhausen,  79-80. 
Frankfort,    155-160. 
Frankfort,  Cathedral  of,  156- 

158,   355. 
Frankfort,     Church     of     St. 

Nicholas,    158. 
Frankfort,     Church     of     St. 

Leonard,  159,  355. 
Frankfort,      Church     of     St. 

Catherine,    159,   355. 
Frankfort,      Church     of     St. 

Paul,   159,  355. 
Frankfort,     Liebfrauenkirche, 

160. 
Frastrada,    168,  277-282. 
Freeman,  Professor,  256. 
Freiburg,   93-96. 
Freiburg,    Cathedral    of,    93- 

95,  355- 
Freiburg,   Parish  Church,  96, 

355- 
Freiburg,   Protestant  Temple, 

96. 
French  Revolution,   156,   165. 

Gibbon,  50. 

Godesberg,  226-227,  356. 

Gonse,   47. 

Great  Tun  of  Heidelberg,  145. 

Greek      Chapel,      Wiesbaden, 

141. 
Grisons,   17,   19-20. 
Groote   Kerk,   Arnheim,   333- 

334,   348. 
Groote    Kerk,    Rotterdam,    7- 

8,39. 
Grynn,  Hermann,  242-245. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  15. 
Gutenberg,    26. 

Haarlem,    7. 
Haarlem,  Kerk  at,  7. 
Hauptkirche,     Boppart,     191- 

192,   349- 
Heidelberg,    142.    146. 
Heidelberg,  Castle  of,  3,  142, 

144-145.  355. 
Heidelberg,     Church     of     St. 

Peter,  143. 


Heidelberg,     Church     of     St. 

Esprit,   143,  355. 
Heidelberg,      University      of, 

144. 
Heidelberg,     Great     Tun     of, 

145- 
Henry  VI.  of  Germany,  24. 
Hildesheim,   55. 
Hoffmann,  140,  141. 
Hofkirche,    Diisseldorf,    305- 

306. 
Holbein,  Hans,  84,  88,  90,  96. 
Holy  Coat  of  Treves,  210-213, 
Hugo,   Victor,    104. 
Huss,  John,  15,  70,  Tj,  78. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  144. 
John  of  Ettingen,  156. 
John  of  Leyden,  346. 

Katwyck,  25,  27. 
Kauffmann,    Angelica,  21. 
Kerk  at  Haarlem,  7. 
Koempf,    95. 
Konigswater,  9. 

Laach,  193. 

Laach,  Abbey  of,  6^,  193-194, 

355- 

Lake  of  Constance,  17,  18,  22, 
68,  78. 

Leopold  of  Austria,  24. 

Leyden,  v.,  7,  8,  25,  343-346- 

Leyden.  Stadt  Huis,  344-345, 
357. 

Leyden,  Church  of  St.  Peter, 
345,  346.  357- 

Leyden,  Church  of  St.  Pan- 
eras,   345, _  346,   357. 

Liebfrauenkirche.  Frankfort, 
160. 

Liege,  295-303. 

Liege,  Cathedral  of  St.  Lam- 
bert,   298. 

Liege.  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul, 

.^99- 
Liege,  figlisc  St.  Jacques.  299- 
301. 


367 


Index 


Liege,    Church    of    St.    Jean, 

.301,  357- 
Liege,  Church  of  St.  Martin, 

301,  357- 
Liege,  Church  of  Ste.  Croix, 

301-302,  357. 
Liege,  Church  of  St.  Barthe- 

lemy,  30-2-303,  357. 
Limburg,  59,  61,  181-186. 
Limburg,     Cathedral     of,     3, 

67,    182-186,   357. 
Lincoln,  Cathedral  of,  v. 
Longfellow,    47. 
Lorsch,   Abbey  of,    153-154. 
Louis    XV.,    118. 
Lowell,   James  Russell,  47. 
Luther,    15,    29,    36,    75,    145, 

149- 

Maastricht,  43. 

Maison  du   Diable,   Arnheim, 

336. 
Mannheim,   146,    148. 
Mannheim,    Chateau    of,    147, 

355- 
Mannheim,  Church  of,  148. 
Marechal     de     Saxe,     Monu- 
ment of,   III. 
Mayence,  vii.,  6,  13,  14,  15,  17, 

22,  2Z,  29,  32,   34,   161 -171. 
Mayence,    Cathedral    of,    48, 

49,  54,  60,  64,  162,  164-170, 

358. 
Metz,  1 14-126. 
Metz,      Cathedral     of      St. 

Stephen,    v.,    114,    120-124, 

358. 
Metz,  Abbey  of  St.  Arnulphe, 

117. 
Metz,     Tour     des     Lennyers, 

117. 
Metz,   Church   of   St.    Pierre. 

118. 
Metz,  Church  of  St.   Martin, 

124,  358. 
Metz,  Church  of  St.  Vincent, 

124.   358. 
Metz,    Church    of    St.    ]\Iaxi- 

min,   124. 


Metz,  Church  of  St.  Clement, 

125-126. 
Metz,   Church  of  St.    Eucha- 

rius,   125. 
Metz,    Church    of    St.    Sage- 
lone,  125. 
Minoriten      Kirche,      Aix-la- 

Chapelle,  293. 
Minsie,  Henry   (von  Frauen- 

lob),  170-171. 
Minster     Church,     Miinchen- 

Gladbach,  314-315. 
Moselle  Valley,  188-189. 
"  Mouse  Tower,"  Bingen,  177, 

179,  348. 
Miinchen-Gladbach,    57,    314- 

317- 
Miinchen-Gladbach.      Minster 

Church,  314-315. 
M  ii  n  c  h  e  n-Gladbach,    Stadt 

Kirche,  315-317,  355- 
Munoth,  Fortress  of,  Schaff- 

hausen,  80. 
Museum,  Basel,  90. 
Museum,  Utrecht,  342. 

Napoleon,    13,    15,    156,    163, 

252,   305. 
Neuss,  6,  9,  308-313. 
Neuss,  Church  of  St.  Quiri- 

nus.  6,  38,  56,  59,  60,  204, 

308-313,    359. 
Nonnenwerth,     Convent     of, 

231. 
Nuremberg,   55. 

Paderborn,  34. 

Paderborn,   Cathedral   at,   61. 
Paris,  Cathedral  of,  v.,  3. 
Parish  Church,  Freiburg,  93- 

96,  355- 
Parish     Church,     Sinzig,    38, 

204-207. 
Petrarch,  246. 
Pfalz,  Basel,  89. 
Pfarr  Kirche,  Dortmund,  324- 

325. 
Pope  Adrien  VL,  338. 
Pope  Benoit  XIIL,  76-77. 


168 


Index 


Pope  Boniface  III.,  131. 
Pope   Gregory  II.,  33. 
Pope  Gregory  XII.,  76-77. 
Pope    John    XXIII.,    76-77. 
Pope  Leo  IX.,  164. 
Pope  Urbain  IV.,  301. 
Prague,   55. 
Protestant     Temple,     Bacha- 

rach,   173,  348. 
Protestant  Temple,  Freiburg, 

96. 

Ragatz,  21. 

Ragatz,  Abbey  of  PfeflFers,  21. 

Ratisbon,  Cathedral  at,  47. 

Ravenna,  44,  50. 

Reims,  Cathedral  of,  v.,  4. 

Remagen,  9. 

Rembrandt,  346. 

Reynolds,   Sir  Joshua,  265. 

Richard    I.    of    England,    24- 

25- 
Robert  I.,  145. 
Rohan,  Cardinal  de,  112. 
Rolandseck,  227-231. 
Rotterdam,    Groote    Kerk   of, 

7-8,  39- 
Rouen,  Cathedral  of,  4. 
Rubens,   264-265. 
Rudesheim,    178-180. 
Rudesheim,    Church    of,    178. 
Rudolph     of    Hapsburg,    83, 

lOI. 

Ruskin,  40. 

Sackingen,   81. 

St.  Bernard,   133,   190. 

St.  Boniface,  33.  37,  163,  338. 

St.  Fridolin,  82. 

St.  Helene,  215,  220,  222. 

St.    Hilaire,    82. 

St.  Janskerk,  Gouda,  39. 

Ste.   Julienne,   301. 

St.    Norbert,    327. 

St.   Thomas,  "j^. 

St.  Trons,  19-20. 

St.  Ursula,  245. 

St.  Willibrod,  -ill-  339- 

Schafifhausen,   i,  9,  79-81. 


Schaffhausen,  Falls  of,  79-80. 
Schaffhausen,     Cathedral     of, 

81-360. 
Schaffhausen,     St.     John's 

Church,  81. 
Schaffhausen,    Munoth,    For- 
tress of,  80. 
Schiller,    29. 
Schongauer,  91,  92. 
Schwilgu,    108,    109. 
Sinzig,    204-207. 
Sinzig,     Parish     Church,    38, 

204-207. 
Southey,   177.  ^ 

Speyer,    15,    I27-I33.*'''^ 
Speyer,    Cathedral    of,   4,   31, 

57,  60,  128,  133,  360. 
Stadt  Huis,  Leyden,  344,  345, 

357- 
Stadt     Kirche,     Miinchen- 

Gladbach,  315-317,  359- 
Stolzenfels,  195-198.  355. 
Strasburg,   6,    15,    16,   22,   24, 

97-113- 
Strasburg,    Cathedral    of,    v., 

47,  64,  97,  99-109,  361. 
Strasburg,  Clock  of,   105-108, 

361. 
Strasburg,     Church     of     St. 

Bartholomew,  no,  361. 
Strasburg,     Church     of     St. 

Thomas,    in,   361. 
Strasburg,    Episcopal    Palace, 

112. 
Synagogue,  Worms,  152,  362. 

Taine,  26. 

Taunus,  Hills  of,  23. 

Templehof,    Boppart,    192. 

Teniers,  7. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  150,  154, 

156,  163,  172,  197. 
Tilly,    145. 
Tour     des     Lennyers,     Metz, 

n7. 
Tournai,  Cathedral  of,  3,  43. 
Treves,   208-219. 
Treves,  Cathedral  of,  56,  208, 

214-217. 


369 


Index 


Treves,   Holy   Coat   of,   210- 

213. 

Treves,     Church     of     Notre 

Dame,  42,  64,  214,  217-218, 

361. 
Treves,  Church  of   St.   Gan- 

golphe,  218. 
Treves,  Church  of  the  Jesuits, 

218. 
Treves,   Church   of   St.    Ger- 

vais,  218. 
Treves,    Church    of    St.    An- 

toine,  218. 
Treves,  Church  of  St.   Paul, 

218. 
Trifels,  Chateau  of,  24. 

University  of  Basel,  82. 
University      of      Heidelberg, 

144. 
University  of  Utrecht,  342. 
Unterlinden,    Colmar,    92. 
Utrecht,  8.  25,  333,  336-343- 
Utrecht,     Cathedral     of     St. 

Martin,  339-341,  362. 
Utrecht,  Church  of  St.  John, 

341-342,    362. 
Utrecht,  Museum  at,  342. 
Utrecht,  University  of,  342. 

Van  der  Werf,  346. 


Van  Rosum,  Martens,  336. 
Vauban,   117. 
Verdun,  17. 

Volkenstein,    Daniel,    108. 
Von     Steinbach,     Ervin,     47, 
100,  loi,  103,  105,  106,  136. 

Weinbrunner,   134,  135. 
Wiesbaden,   138- 141. 
Wiesbaden,    Catholic    Church 

of,    139,   141. 
Wiesbaden,      Greek      Chapel, 

141. 
Windner,  Jacob,  75. 
Wittenberg.  29. 
Wordsworth,  253,  295. 
Worms,  IS,  149-154. 
Worms,  Diet  of,   149. 
Worms,    Cathedral    of,    150- 

151,  Z^2- 

Worms,  Church  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, 151,  362. 

Worms,  Church  of  Notre 
Dame,    151,  362. 

Worms,  Synagogue,  152,  362. 

Xanten,  327-330. 
Xanten,    Church   of   St.   Vic- 
tor, 328-330,  362. 

York,  Cathedral  of,  v. 


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